New Delhi: Congress MP and advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi came out heavily against the Bharatiya Janata Party over the FIR filed against Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in connection to the alleged extortion of money through the now-scrapped electoral bonds, and said this development has "unmasked the true nature" of the ruling party.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Singhvi said that the BJP's plan had been "sinister" and that there was a pattern on how the electoral bond had helped a few firms ease their case with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) or get out of custody. He also demanded the resignation of Sitharaman.
"BJP's plan had been sinister, including the Finance Minister, especially since this FIR has unmasked the true nature of the BJP...The pattern had been that when was the electoral bond taken and how much amount was taken, and then how many times ED knocked on their doors before buying the bonds and after the electoral bond was brought, then either their cases against them were slowed or they were released from custody...One firm also bought 500 crore worth of electoral bonds as well," he said.
He further alleged that there was a process for how the FIR was filed and that after a probe into the matter, it was filed. Singhvi alleged that the total figure related to the case is Rs 8,000 crore, adding that there must be involvement of other top brass of the BJP also.
"There is a process for how this FIR was filed. There is a filter, an investigation takes place and after the probe, an FIR is filed... The total figure is Rs 8,000 crore. I don't think the finance minister alone took the decision and it must have been taken from top brass...The electoral bonds scheme is an extortionist BJP scheme," Singhvi said.
He also called for the resignation of the Union Finance Minister.
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh also addressed the press conference and alleged that the BJP stacked through electoral bonds in four ways--prepaid process, postpaid process, post raid or shell companies.
"Four ways were there by which the BJP got electoral bonds. 1. 'Chanda do Dhandha lo'--this was a prepaid process. 2. 'Theka lo, Chanda do'--this was a postpaid process. 3. 'Hafta Vasooli'--it was post-raid. 4. 'Farzi companies'," Ramesh said.
He also demanded the resignation of the Union Finance Minister and called for the formation of a Special Investigation Team as well as a Joint Parliamentary Committee to look into the matter.
Earlier on Friday, a Bengaluru court had ordered the filing of an FIR against Nirmala Sitharaman and others for allegedly extorting money through electoral bonds.
This came in the wake of a petition filed by Adarsh Iyer of Janadhikar Sangharsh Parishad (JSP) to the Special Court of People's Representatives seeking a direction to take action against the Union Minister.
Following the hearing, the court ordered the Tilak Nagar police station in Bengaluru to register an FIR.
—ANI