Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday said he was ready for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into allegations of wanton forest destruction, wherein his brother has been named by a news channel.
Talking to media persons in Srinagar, Azad, however, said 'attempts to drag his name into the controversy will not dilute his resolve to carry on his tirade against corruption in the state and will pursue the corrupt to the last.'
Azad said he has been 'living alone for the last over 41 years and could not be held responsible for any wrong done by his relatives.'
"If any of my relatives was proved to be involved in a corrupt practice, he would be dealt with like any other citizen of the state," he said, adding, "I have been making this stand of mine known to everybody for last so many years, and I was the first politician to write to all ministers of the state not to entertain any of his relatives."
Azad said, "Officers indicted in the Kundal committee report, which had investigated the irregularities in the state forest corporation were responsible for this malicious propaganda against me."
A committee headed by B R Kundal, now the chief secretary of the state, had been constituted to probe timber shortages and its import last year.
The chief minister said elements, which had been proceeded against for corrupt practices since he took over, had ganged up and were trying to drag his person into controversies in an attempt to dilute his resolve against corruption.
Nothing, he asserted, will 'dissuade him from his agenda to eradicate the menace from the state.'