E-Paper
BJP protests across U.P. against Cong after Odisha cash haul
The cadre of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday staged sit-ins and protests at various places across Uttar Pradesh against the Congress in the backdrop of income tax raids on a Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP in Odisha in which over ₹200 crore of alleged unaccounted cash was recovered
The cadre of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday staged sit-ins and protests at various places across Uttar Pradesh against the Congress in the backdrop of income tax raids on a Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP in Odisha in which over ₹200 crore of alleged unaccounted cash was recovered.
Ahead of the protests, the state BJP unit also organised a press conference in which state party chief Bhupendra Chaudhary described the Congress as an “ATM of corruption.”
“Why are top Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi silent on the subject? Over ₹200 crore has been recovered in raids on premises of Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP Dheeraj Sahu in Odisha. This is now clear that the Congress and its ‘ghamandiya (haughty)’ alliance are interested in corruption,” Chaudhary said.
While the press conference was on, party workers across the state had started raising “anti-Congress” slogans during the sit-ins. “The Modi guarantee is the proof of our party government’s commitment to striking at the root of corruption and end all commission and loot. Modi guarantee means that all those who have looted the poor would have to return every penny,” Chaudhary said.
Readying the pitch for 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Chaudhary said, “Imagine if one Congress MP is found to be in possession of nearly ₹200 crore plus, how much more cash would all other Congress MPs have and one can thus easily imagine things.”
Taking a potshot at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Mohabbat ki Dukaan (shop of love)’ comment, the U.P. BJP chief asked, “Rahul ji, how many such artists are there in Congress? The Congress’s ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’ has turned its leaders into an ‘ATM of corruption’.”
“Counting of the wads of currency notes recovered from a franchisee of ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’ is on and it is apparent that there has been a brisk sale,” he said. “Now, it appears that ‘Mohabbat’ is sold out and only hate for ‘Hindutva’ or ‘Sanatana’ remains. Now, it is also clear that corruption is a must at all places where there is a Congress representative,” he said.
The BJP chief also claimed that when enforcement agencies like the ED, the CBI and the I-T start acting, all tainted leaders unite. Questioning why Congress made Dheeraj Sahu, who had lost two Lok Sabha polls, its Rajya Sabha MP, Chaudhary said, “It is clear that the web of corruption runs deep in the party and that is why the BJP has decided to stage protests against this blatant loot of public money.” At various places like Lucknow, Budaun and other places, the BJP workers also burnt a symbolic effigy of the Congress and raised slogans.
Responding to the BJP’s allegations of corruption, Congress leader CP Rai said, “It would have been better had the BJP quickly acted on the involvement of son of a senior BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh in a corruption scandal whose videos were also released.”
He said, “We don’t endorse any act of corruption but all the same merely because cash has been recovered from a Congress leader in Odisha doesn’t mean anything. More so because the Congress leader is also a big businessman and he will surely explain the cash trail. In case he does not, the law of the land must prevail against him and all others. But, this selective leakage and a sinister misinformation campaign is surely uncalled for and most unfortunate.”
