Odisha cash haul: BJP leaders attack Congress; question silence of Rahul, Kharge
Mumbai BJP President Ashish Shelar alleged that the Gandhis would emerge as the “most corrupt family in the world”.
The BJP on Saturday (December 9) attacked the Congress and accused the party of “sheltering the corrupt” over the recovery of a huge amount of “unaccounted” cash in Odisha and demanded stern action against Jharkhand Congress MP Dhiraj Prasad Sahu.
A huge pile of cash has been recovered so far in the searches conducted by the Income Tax department against Odisha-based Boudh Distillery Private Limited and entities linked to it.
Seizure of Rs 290 crore?
Premises linked to Sahu – a Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand – were also covered as part of the searches, according to a PTI report that cited official sources.
The seizure is expected to reach Rs 290 crore, making it the “highest-ever” black money haul by any agency in a single operation, according to sources.
The Income Tax department conducted raids on the premises of business houses linked to Sahu in Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal and recovered cash amounting over Rs 210 crore but senior Congress leaders are silent, Rajiv Bindal, chief of the BJP's Himachal Pradesh unit, said at a press conference in Shimla.
This suggests that the Congress is “protecting and sheltering corrupt people”, Bindal added.
The BJP leader said Sahu – a Rajya Sabha MP since 2010 – accompanied Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his Bharat Jodo Yatra and claimed that "Congress, corruption and cash" have become synonymous.
He also questioned why Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and party leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are silent on the issue.
Shelar targets Gandhi family
In Mumbai, the city BJP president Ashish Shelar said the seizure is just the tip of the iceberg of the grand old party’s corruption.
“(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.
He alleged that the Gandhis would emerge as the “most corrupt family in the world”.
'Library of money'
In Guwahati, Assam BJP chief Bhabesh Kalita compared the crores of rupees recovered in Odisha as a "library of money".
He also dared the grand old party to come clean on the recovered money.
Addressing a press conference, Kalita said, "We had seen library of books. But we had never seen a library of money." He claimed that the recovery of crores of rupees from a Congress leader's premises proves how the party looted the nation over the years.
“The Congress must come clean on the source of the money,” the state BJP chief said.
(With agency inputs)
