Thank God they spared peon: Shotgun mocks Modi govt over PNB fraud

Patna:  Dissident BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha on Monday mocked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government for blaming auditors and regulators for the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud saying, "Thank God they spared the peon".

Sinha's remark was an obvious reference to a recent statement by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley blaming the multiple layers of auditing system which "chose to either look the other way or do a casual job" for the fraud.

The actor-turned-politician, who has been critical of his party and its government, said, "Taali kaptaan ko to gaali bhi kaptaan ko (the captain has to receive both bouquets as well as brickbats)"

“Our learned people, after blaming everyone from Nehru regime to Congress misrule, said that auditors are to blame for PNB scam. Thank God they spared the peon,'' he tweeted.

''The moot question is, as actual owners of PNB, what was the government doing for at least four of those six years,'' Sinha said referring to the irregularities that began in 2011 when the Congress-led UPA was in power at the Centre.

"Do we have any answers Sir. With due respect, as they say taali kaptaan ko to gaali bhi kaptaan ko," he tweeted.

Sinha, who is known for his colourful oratory and wit, wrote an Urdu couplet to underscore his point.

"Tu idhar udhar ki na baat kar ye bata ki qafila kyun luta mujhe rahzanon se gila nahin teri rahbari ka saval hai (Do not beat about the bush, tell me why the robbery took place. I have do not have much a of complaint against the robbers, but the credibility of your leadership is at stake)," he wrote on the microblogging site.

Sinha, who is also a member of the BJP national executive, had recently questioned the presence of Nirav Modi, the prime accused in the fraud, among the delegates who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the World Economic Summit in Davos.

He has also been sharply critical of the prime minister for blaming Jawaharlal Nehru for the partition and previous Congress governments for various problems currently being faced by the country.