New Delhi: Over a month after the apex court ordered a preliminary CBI inquiry into corruption allegations against Arunachal chief minister Pema Khandu, it is a “gross travesty of the Supreme Court’s verdict” that he has not been asked to step down yet, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said.Ramesh, a Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha and the party’s general secretary in-charge for communications, also asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been silent on the issue.“This is not an order of a lower court or a high court. It is of the Supreme Court. Yet the CM continues in office,” Ramesh wrote on X, adding to note that Khandu is also in charge of Arunachal Pradesh’s public works department and “controls the files that the CBI will need to conduct its inquiry”.“Why is the man who once said na khaunga na khane dunga quiet and why has the Arunachal Pradesh CM not been asked to step down,” asked Ramesh, referring to the anti-corruption plank on which Modi stormed to power in 2014. “This is a gross travesty of the Supreme Court’s verdict itself.”According to petitioners who approached the Supreme Court, the Arunachal Pradesh government carried out procurement and awarded works illegally and arbitrarily to Khandu, his brother and his stepmother as well as to their close political associates.Works worth Rs 1,270 crore were awarded between 2015 and 2025 to four firms linked either to Khandu – who became chief minister in 2016 – or his close relatives, they had argued.A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N.V. Anjaria on April 6 directed a preliminary CBI inquiry into the allegations, ordering that the agency “shall in particular examine awards made” to Khandu, his brother and his stepmother “and to firms or individuals related to them”.“The coincidence is remarkable that in a state, work orders and tenders are given to family members in huge numbers,” the bench orally observed while pronouncing its verdict.Earlier, the Union government had told the Supreme Court in October that it cannot look into the allegations against Khandu and that the ball was in the state government’s court.