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Delhi elections 2015: Mud flies on who is clean
AAP Ne Companies Se Hawala Ki Tarah Chanda Liya: BJP
Published on Feb 2, 2015
भारतीय जनता पार्टी ने आम आदमी पार्टी पर हमले तेज करते हुए आज उसकी फंडिंग पर सवाल उठाए। कमान संभाली बीजेपी नेता और केंद्रीय मंत्री पीयूष गोयल और निर्मला सीतारमण ने ने। दोनों ने आप पर फंडिंग को लेकर कई आरोप लगाए।
Delhi elections 2015: Mud flies on who is clean
AAP called it a conspiracy to tarnish its image ahead of Delhi Assembly elections. (Source: PTI photo)
By: Express News Service | New Delhi | Posted: February 3, 2015 12:55 am | Updated: February 3, 2015 4:47 am
With three days left to campaign for the Delhi assembly elections, the intense contest between AAP and BJP took a bitter turn Monday when the two lead players launched no-holds barred attacks on each other.
The AAP slammed a BJP poll advertisement and approached the Election Commission, complaining that the rival party had abused the gotra of its leader Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP returned fire by pouncing on allegations levelled at AAP by a breakaway faction which questioned its funding route.
Karan Singh and Gopal Goel of the breakaway AAP Volunteer Action Manch (AVAM) alleged that AAP received four donations of Rs 50 lakh each from “dubious companies”. They named four companies and said they were checking on 31 companies.
Karan Singh and Gopal Goel of the breakaway AAP Volunteer Action Manch (AVAM) alleged that AAP received four donations of Rs 50 lakh each from “dubious companies”. They named four companies and said they were checking on 31 companies.
Rejecting the charge, the AAP challenged the Centre to order an investigation.
Kejriwal also attacked the BJP: “We’ve taken all donations by cheque… We have a BJP government (at the Centre). Let it investigate. Please punish me if anything wrong is found… They (BJP) have pressed the panic button and that is why you see all these big guns campaigning for the party.”
The BJP retaliated, accusing AAP of accepting illegal donations.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal said: “It’s a matter of great concern that a party that has called itself anarchist, a party that had threatened to disrupt the solemn occasion of Republic Day parade…has circumvented the law of the land to receive foreign donations. It’s not in the interest of the nation to receive foreign donations… when you connect the dots… it’s a matter of serious concern. The AAP’s donations are illegal. Black money is being routed via shell companies to the party.”
Earlier, showcasing what they claimed were screenshots from the AAP website, AVAM leaders said, “All these four donations of Rs 50 lakh each were received on April 5, 2014. All four companies mentioned on the AAP website are bogus.”
The AAP called it a “conspiracy” to tarnish its image ahead of the February 7 vote and challenged the government to get the matter investigated by any of its agencies.
“This is a conspiracy. We invite the government to order an investigation before the polls by any of its agencies,” senior AAP leader Yogendra Yadav told reporters.
AAP spokesperson Ashish Khetan said: “In the case of these four companies, the AAP took money from them through cheques. All banking transactions are legitimate. The AAP, in a careful manner, took the PAN (permanent account number).”
“As soon as the money is received, the details are made public, uploaded on the website. If we had anything to hide, why would we put it up on the website? The AAP collects all cheques given in a day and submits them in the bank account through a software which transfers the money at night,” he said.
According to AAP, any donation to the party exceeding Rs 10 lakh is brought to the notice of its Political Affairs Committee. Responding to a query on whether the PAC investigated donations made by these companies, Yadav said: “The transaction between those companies and us is 100 per cent legal.
We cannot say where those companies got the money from. We simply do not have the mechanism and ways… We thought the best way was to make these transactions transparent and this was done.”
We cannot say where those companies got the money from. We simply do not have the mechanism and ways… We thought the best way was to make these transactions transparent and this was done.”
“This happened on April 5, 2014 and the first round of Lok Sabha polls took place on April 10. Whatever probe is possible for a political party to conduct in the middle of polls, we conducted,” Yadav said.
“Last week, at a press conference and at Kejriwal’s public meetings, we had warned people that this kind of mud slinging will take place in the coming week. You will remember that even last time, five-six days before the assembly polls, such incidents took place,” Yadav said. “This is an eight-month-old case and it has been suddenly been brought up five days before elections. This has been done so that no gets to know the truth.”
Not to be left behind, the Congress too slammed the AAP. Party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said: “\This AAP has, for the last one and half years, been talking that we are an entity against whom you cannot make such allegations. We are snow white and have descended from the heavens.”
Singhvi was quick to add that the Congress could not vouch for the allegations levelled at AAP and said the charges required immediate, urgent and in-depth investigation.
BJP shivers as AAP fever rises- Kejriwal targeted in funds row |
| Our Special Correspondent |
 A Narendra Modi lookalike campaigns for the BJP in New Delhi on Monday. (PTI) The latest attack — three days before campaigning ends for the February 7 Delhi elections — came amid internal reports from the ground that suggested that not only was the fight perilously close but that the Aam Aadmi Party might have also stolen a slight edge. The so-called bombshell was an “exposé” by some AAP rebels this morning on Kejriwal’s “money-laundering” schemes. “Our goals are clear. We have to get a comfortable majority and for that we must demolish whatever remains of Kejriwal,” a BJP source said. “He loves to preach from a high pedestal and hand out certificates to other leaders. Our message to him is simply this, ‘Bhaiyya, practise what you preach and stop having one set of rules for yourself and another for other politicians’.” The “expose”, unspooled at a media conference, accused Kejriwal of “fudging, tweaking and routing of donations” and claimed the “façade of information” hid the “real nature” of underhand money laundering. Addressing the media, central ministers Goyal and Nirmala Sitharaman asked how was it that companies that remained “dormant” or posted no profits contributed “substantially” to the AAP. The rebels had mentioned several such donations by companies. The BJP ministers claimed the presence of the same set of individuals as directors of the donor firms proved these “shell companies were used for money laundering”. They also questioned the amount and timing of the donation, wondering how these companies donated Rs 50 lakh each on the midnight of April 5, 2014. Did Kejriwal, the ministers asked, “knowingly” accept the “dubious funds” even after his colleague, Yogendra Yadav, had publicly stated that every corporate donation above Rs 9.99 lakh had been probed by the AAP’s political affairs committee. “If you (AAP) received the funds from ‘chor’ (thief) companies, does that become genuine?” Nirmala said. The BJP spokespersons, however, said neither did they intend to complain to the Election Commission about the “expose” nor demand that the Centre look into it. “The law will take its course,” Goyal said. But he pointed out that the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, didn’t permit foreign donations to Indian political parties. “The idea is to block their (foreign donors’) interference in the internal affairs of our country, so this exposé raises questions about the role of foreigners in the running of a particular party that calls itself anarchist.” Earlier in the day the BJP had been caught on the back foot following a newspaper ad where it described Kejriwal’s “gotra” (sub-caste) as “upadravi” (anarchist). Insiders likened it to Congress veteran Mani Shankar Aiyar’s “chaiwalla” jibe at Narendra Modi before the Lok Sabha polls. Goyal said the word “upadravi” had been used metaphorically. |