Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and questioned why the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received 50 per cent of the donations in electoral bonds, while Congress received only 11 per cent.
The statement comes a day after the Election Commission published the electoral bonds data on its website charging up the political atmosphere in the country ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024.
Mallikarjun Kharge said that the Prime Minister says ‘na khaoonga, na khane dunga (will not eat, will not let others eat)’. But Supreme Court has exposed how the BJP has made money out of electoral bonds,” the Congress President said.
The Congress president demanded a special investigation into the donations made through electoral bonds and said that the account of BJP must remain frozen till the probe is completed.
“Even our voter pattern (percentage) if you see we are nearly one-third and the rest of the people are two-third including BJP, but in donations, they got more than 50 percent. How can they get this much money? How can the capitalists or other companies give such donations? There are many dubious donors. Who are they? People who have donated, are either involved in ED cases, Income Tax or have been raised by these agencies,” Mallikarjun Kharge alleged.
The Congress president said: “Ultimately the Government of India, particularly (Narendra) Modi and his party pressured these people to give more donations to their party. Otherwise, this much of difference cannot be there. IT (Income-Tax department) was instructed to do this and nearly ₹300 crore is frozen. How can we go to the election? You are collecting crores of rupees through electoral bonds, while Congress got donations from workers, MPs, and other small donors. Our account is closed, their account is open. They got ₹6,000 crore, while others got very little,” the Congress President added.
Congress doesn’t have funds: Mallikarjun Kharge
While asserting that Congress doesn’t have adequate funds ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, Mallikarjun Kharge slammed the ruling BJP for freezing its money through the Income Tax Department. He said that Congress accumulated those funds during crowdfunding campaigns.
“It was our party money that the people gave as donations. The accounts have been frozen and we don’t have money to spend,” the Congress President said.
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Published: 15 Mar 2024, 04:56 PM IST