By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, Jan 2 : Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram on Friday said that the CBI investigations into the chit fund and mining scam in Odisha have slowed down sparking off a political row in the state.

“The Central Government has let them (BJD led State Government) off in many issues including chit fund and mining. Had it not been the case, the CBI would have finished them off already. They should thank (the Center) for it,” said Oram speaking to an Odisha based private news channel.

The suave and simple tribal leader Oram became evasive upon further questioning and he tried to twist his own words a bit.

“The investigation has actually slowed down but still going on. They haven’t let the State Government off. But, as everyone knows the investigations have slowed down. It is not going at the expected speed,” he added.

Oram, however, refused to give any reason for the slowdown.

“The question you asked is a technical question. It can’t be answered here,” he said responding to a question on the reasons behind the slowdown in investigation.
BJD was scathing in its reaction after the news broke out.

“The argument of the union minister is unjustifiable. This is insane. Earlier they used to accuse us of theft and used to claim that they would catch all our wrongdoings. Now they are claiming that they are helping us. The hide and seek game they are playing must stop,” said BJD Spokesperson Pratap Deb.

Notably, main opposition Congress has been raking up this ‘BJP-BJD internal understanding’ issue time and again. Most recently AICC Vice President Rahul Gandhi, in a tour of Odisha last September, had also accused the BJD and BJP of a “tacit understanding”.