The BJP kept up its offensive against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over money laundering allegations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the charge on Tuesday and accusing the AAP leadership of crossing all limits of “shamelessness.” Other BJP leaders, including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, also confronted the AAP with serious questions about the source of the Rs2-crore donation that it received eight months ago from four fictitious companies.
In one of his most aggressive speeches ahead of the February 7 Assembly polls, the Prime Minister slammed the AAP over the money laundering charge, saying the AAP had crossed all limits of “shamelessness” and that this was the basic character of the outfit. Questioning AAP’s transparency claims, Modi lambasted AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal saying the very people who used to keep lists of Swiss Bank account holders now have no clue about the funds being transferred into their own accounts.
Referring to the exposé about transfer of Rs2 crore at the stroke of midnight on a single day into the AAP’s accounts, Modi called it “kaali raat mein kale dhan ke kaarnaame (misdeeds of black money at midnight).” The statement drew thunderous applause and cheers from thousands of BJP supporters gathered at the Japanese Park in Rohini. Without naming Kejriwal, he said: “The temporary party and its dramebaaz leader leveled all sorts of corruption charges against the BJP and Congress, but now the truth has come out.”
With opinion polls carried out by various channels predicting an AAP upsurge in the last leg of the polls, the BJP leadership sees the money laundering charges as a last weapon to turn the tide in its favour. The party fielded its senior leaders to raise this issue throughout the day in a bid to puncture AAP’s claim of transparency and honesty.
launching a fierce attack on the AAP, Jaitley said the party was caught “red-handed” receiving funds through “round-tripping” from companies which did not have any business and accused it of adopting “diversionary tactics” to deflect attention. Jaitley called the Rs 2 crore donation through cheques of Rs.50 lakh each by four companies to AAP a clear case of “round-tripping of black money” and indicated that a probe will be initiated into it by the authorities concerned.
“It is obvious that this is a round-tripping of black money into the system of a political party. Now, if you are perhaps trapped in an incident of this kind, this is no position that you should start blaming other political parties and try and deflect the agenda,” he said. On AAP seeking a Supreme Court-monitored probe into funding of the three major parties in Delhi polls, Jaitley said: “These are all diversionary tactics. AAP and its leadership is caught red-handed in this case. I’m sure the statutory authorities will do their job as and when their returns are filed and as and when the facts are brought to their notice.”
Rejecting the AAP’s argument that it received the donations through cheques, Jaitley said: “The elementary question is when you give your money by cheque, who is the controlling interest behind that company, the party is supposed to know that.” He further said it was “obvious that these companies have been used as pass-through entities, transacted through hawala means or through companies which convert that money and give entries in white money to others.”
As the war of words intensified, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman even called Kejriwal a thief. “A chor (thief) cannot decide who will investigate him,” she said, responding to AAP’s demand for a SIT probe into the funding of political parties. Sitharaman’s thief remark evoked a strong response from the AAP. “Not surprised if Nirmala Sitharaman is calling Kejriwal a thief. That is the political culture they have been born into,” AAP leader Ashutosh said.