Mumbai: The seizure of unaccounted cash of more than Rs 200 crore allegedly linked to a Congress MP from Jharkhand is just the tip of the iceberg of the grand old party’s corruption, Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar said on Saturday.
Seizure of unaccounted cash in an Income Tax department raid that started on December 6 on Odisha-based Boudh Distillery Private Limited and others is expected to reach Rs 290 crore, making it the “highest-ever” black money haul by any agency in a single operation, official sources said during the day.
A premises linked to Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, was also searched as part of the operation.
Cash amounting to more than Rs 250 crore, mostly in notes of Rs 500 denomination, has been seized till now.
“(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi’s guarantee is of a corruption-free India. On the other side is the corrupt face of Congress. Its history of corruption, embezzlement, brokering and bribery has come to light in Jharkhand. More than Rs 200 crore has been seized from Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Sahu,” Shelar said.
“PM Modi’s campaign to destroy black money and corruption has succeeded in exposing the corrupt affairs of the Congress. ‘Modi ki guarantee’ is to eliminate corruption,” Shelar added.
He alleged if so much money is found in the house of a Congress MP, then one need not guess how much money is stacked with other leaders from the party and members of the Gandhi family.
Alleging that the Gandhis will emerge as the “most corrupt family in the world’, Shelar said, “Wherever there is a people’s representative from the Congress, there surely will be corruption. Whereas with BJP’s leadership there will be guarantee of good and clean governance. People have realised Congress leaders and workers are getting trained in corruption from a centre called ‘The Gandhi Corruption Centre’,” Shelar alleged.
He said one must know how much of this black money goes to the Gandhi family, adding that the Modi government will not rest until it digs out every detail of this corruption.
Shelar said all corrupt leaders in the country have come together to form the Congress-led opposition bloc INDIA or the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.
Since the money seizure has taken place in Jharkhand, the eastern state’s chief minister Hemant Soren, who is part of INDIA bloc, must resign immediately, Shelar demanded.
Shelar alleged Rs 42 crore was found from the Bengaluru house of a close associate of a Congress leader, while Rs 50 crore cash and gold were seized from the house Parth Bannerjee, a minister in the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal.
Satyendra Jain, a close associate of Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal, was found in possession of gold coins and several crore rupees, while in Chhattisgarh outgoing chief minister Bhupesh Baghel has been linked to the Mahadev app “scam”, Shelar further alleged.
The “thug bandhan” (cheaters’ alliance) of the Congress and Soren embezzled Rs 550 crore in MNREGA, Rs 1500 crore in coal mining transactions, Rs 1500 crore from illegal mining, Rs 1500 crore from rural development fund, Rs 3000 crore from land irregularities, Shelar alleged.
The Kejriwal government is also embroiled in the excise scam, which has led to arrest of some AAP ministers, while in Maharashtra, under the chief ministership of Uddhav Thackeray during MVA rule, similar licences for liquor were issued and attempts were made to allow sale of liquor from grocery shops.
“Is there a similar scam waiting to get exposed in Maharashtra after the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress,” Shelar asked.
—PTI