Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday invoked a popular crime series to assail the Congress on the recovery of more than `350 crore from premises linked to its MP Dhiraj Prasad Sahu. This is the second time in a week that Modi has taken on the Congress on the huge recovery of cash amount from Sahu.
The Prime Minister made the remarks in reaction to a social media post by the BJP. The post featured a video showing pictures of Sahu with senior Congress leaders, including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi. It also displayed the piles of cash recovered during Income Tax raids on premises linked to the Jharkhand MP.
The BJP captioned the video “Congress presents the Money Heist!” while the series popular title song plays in the background.
“In India, who needs ‘Money Heist’ fiction, when you have the Congress Party, whose heists are legendary for 70 years and counting,” the Prime Minister said in his post.
The cash seizure in the Income Tax department’s searches against Odisha-based Boudh Distillery Private Limited owned by the family of Sahu — the Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP — has been calculated at `351 crore and is the “highest-ever” haul in a single action by any probe agency in the country, official sources said.
Last Friday when the huge haul was reported, Modi had taken similar swipe at the Opposition on the issue of corruption, asserting it is “Modi’s guarantee” that they will have to return every penny “looted” from people. The PM had tagged a news report of the Income Tax department recovering at that time `200 crore in cash from various locations of the Jharkhand MP.
The Congress though issued a notice seeking explanation from Sahu the party said it’s the MP’s internal matter and not that of the party as he is a businessman for more than four decades.
Hitting out at the INDIA Bloc, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said the Modi Government’s resolve to take tough action against corruption with renewed vigour is the only reason for Opposition leaders to unite and step up their attack on Central probe agencies. The INDIA Bloc parties have given a guarded response on the huge haul of currency from their partner’s MP.
Addressing a Press conference, Rijiju and BJP leaders Sangita Singhdeo, Rameshwar Teli and Nisith Pramanik said the haul of `351 crore from premises linked to Congress MP Sahu was not a one-off.
There are cases against leaders of Opposition parties, including those from Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Delhi, they added.
“The very many ‘shops of corruption’ opened by the Congress should be shut down. Strict action is being taken,” Rijiju told reporters.
“It would not be wrong to say that the coming together of the INDIA alliance has nothing to do with democracy but it’s a union of corrupt people for the betterment of the corrupt by the corrupt people,” he added.
“The Congress should be called the corruption party because the Congress is the root of corruption,” Rijiju said.
Rijiju said `42 crore was recovered from the relative of a Congress leader in Bengaluru; in West Bengal, several Ministers in the Mamata Banerjee Government are involved in corruption; in Tamil Nadu, Senthil Balaji, a Minister, is in jail and the party that calls itself “staunchly honest (kattar imandar)” has found several of its leaders in jail.
Rijiju said Modi gave several guarantees to the people to make India a developed nation by 2047, make it the third largest economy in the world, and ensure that the Government benefits reach the public.
“Another guarantee was action against every corrupt persons. That is why you must have seen Congress leader Rahul and his friends hate Modi a lot. The anger is because of the strong action against corruption,” he said.
Rijiju said corruption increased during the Congress regimes because the party believes in the principle of perpetuating corrupt practices.
“Congress leaders indulge in corrupt practices and also encourage others to do so. It is their policy … to loot and let others loot,” the senior BJP leader said.
He said the voters rejected the Congress in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan after several of their scams came to light.
Asked about the cash seizure, senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, “I have not seen `350 crore in my life. In fact, if you ask me, how many zeros are there, I will have to count. The Congress party has clearly said the party has nothing to do with the cash that was seized and only Sahu, the gentleman allegedly concerned has to explain the position.”
