Naveen Jindal not a Congressman: Vidyacharan Shukla

Launching a scathing attack on Congress MP, Naveen Jindal, over coal block allocation, veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister Vidyacharan Shukla said despite being a Congress MP, Naveen Jindal was not a Congressman and that his power plant should be ousted from the State.

While responding to a question on a coal block allocation to Jindal’s firm, he said, “Jindal's company was responsible for political and environmental pollution in Raigarh, and now by grabbing coal block in an illegal manner he has made it clear that he doesn't care about the environment.”

“Naveen Jindal is a Congress MP, but he is not a true Congressman because he has marred the image of the party. Jindal power plant should be ousted from the state as it has outraged the tribals in Raigarh,” he added.

Naveen Jindal, on the other hand, attributed Jindal Power’s success to better strategy, implementation and execution and not the cheap coal.

Meanwhile, Shukla’s comments have left the party puzzled. According to sources, there was a dispute between Jindal and Shukla and under the pretext of coal blocks allocation, Shukla got an opportunity to corner Jindal.

However, for the last few months the party has been trying to ascertain the reasons behind Shukla’s displeasure. Despite being a former Union Minister, Shukla is neither getting attention at the national level nor the respect from the party leaders in the state.

Recently, during a press conference he cornered Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on the approvals to the various power manufacturing companies in the state.