Why isn't govt naming those keeping money abroad: Oppn

Accusing the government of large scale corruption, Opposition parties in the Lok Sabha on Thursday asked it to disclose the names of those who have stashed unaccounted money in foreign banks.

Participating in the debate on the motion of thanks to the President for her address to Parliament, members of Shiromani Akali Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party and Independent member Inder Singh Namdhari asked the government to disclose the names of people who have stashed black money abroad and furnish all details.

"In India, many women often do not take the names of their husband. In this case, they (government) are not disclosing the names. I want to know what relationship the two (government and those who have stashed black money) have," Namdhari said, amid laughter and thumping of desks.

Maintaining that Rs 70,000 crore worth of unaccounted money was stashed abroad, Rattan Singh Ajnala (SAD) said, "We have been demanding that government reveal these names, but they have been stalling it for so long."

Balkrishna Shukla (BJP) also accused the government of "large scale corruption" in various fields, including the Devas Antrix spectrum scam.

The Opposition MPs also took the government to task on the "fiasco" relating to Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi as well as "damaging the federal structure" by trying to create bodies like the National Counter Terrorism Centre.

On the Trivedi issue, Congress member M I Shanavas said, "Our leadership is capable of resolving any problem, including this one."

He claimed the opposition parties would be "wiped out" in the general elections slated in 2014 and said the talk of a Third Front was "a national joke".