Odisha cash haul | ‘Where there is a scam there is a Congress leader’: Smriti Irani

Amethi (UP), Dec 9 (PTI) Union minister Smriti Irani on Saturday took a dig at the Congress over the recovery of "unaccounted" cash from the premises of a party leader during income tax raids, saying this is not the first time a Congress MP is found involved in "corruption".

The seizure of "unaccounted" cash after the income-tax department raided an Odisha-based distillery group and entities linked to it 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 on Saturday.

The tax department has deployed about 40 large and small machines to count the currency notes and brought in more department and bank staffers to finish the process, which began on December 6 following raids against Boudh Distillery Private Limited and others, the sources said.

Besides these, more vehicles have also been requisitioned by the department to transport the seized cash to government banks in the state.

A premises linked to Congress's Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, was also searched as part of the operation, the sources said.

"Why is it that where there is a scam, there is a Congress leader," Irani, the local BJP MP, told reporters at Gauriganj here. "This is not the first MP of Congress who is involved in corruption." "Not only humans but also machine got tired in counting the notes, but money continues to be recovered from the house of a corrupt leader of the Congress. Rs 200 crore worth of corruption has come out of the house of a corrupt Congress MP. Whose ATM is this in the Gandhi family, the answer to this question will be awaited," Irani said.

While addressing the Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra here, Irani targeted the Nehru-Gandhi family without naming them. "The area where India's top politicians have ruled for years and enjoyed power, they did not think about it." She said India will be a developed nation by 2047. PTI