BJP politicising black money issue, says Cong
Congress accused BJP of politicising the issue of black money and asked what steps were taken by the NDA government to bring the funds back from foreign countries when it was in power at the Centre.
Congress accused BJP of politicising the issue of black money and asked what steps were taken by the NDA government to bring the funds back from foreign countries when it was in power at the Centre.
"They are not interested in getting money back. They are only interested in making noise over the issue because it suits their political agenda...What are steps the NDA took to bring back the black money stashed in foreign banks...whatever steps that have been taken in this regard so far were taken by the UPA government," party spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters here.
He was reacting to the statements of NDA's working Chairperson L K Advani who asked all chief ministers and other senior most leaders to declare their assets and told the government to make all efforts to bring Indian slush funds stashed in tax havens.
Tewari's reaction came hours after senior NDA leaders held a press conference to present the report of a task force appointed by BJP to look into the issue of Indian black money stashed abroad and ways of dealing with the issue.
He said that while every Indian and every political party would like to see that the Indian money stashed in those banks were brought back, "merely making statements won't achieve that."
"Even Advaniji knows that only the UPA government took steps in this regard be it going against the 20 tax haven countries in G-20 meeting or signing tax treaties with 10 countries where the black money is deposited. I want to ask BJP what they did when they came to power. Black money issue existed even then...it's only the UPA government which walked the talk," he said.
On BJP saying that the black money issue will be a major issue in the Budget session of Parliament, Tewari said, "It clearly reeks of politics."