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JMM hits back at Marandi for linking ‘cash haul’ to Soren; Cong slams PM
The income tax department is yet to come out with an official word on the actual recovery of cash, JMM spokesperson said.
The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) in Jharkhand on Saturday accused the BJP of manufacturing a political narrative around the income tax (I-T) raids against the firms related to Congress MP Dheeraj Sahu, saying the central agency is yet to come out with an official word on the actual recovery of cash.
Addressing a press conference at the party office here, JMM general secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya hit out at the Jharkhand BJP chief Babulal Marandi for linking chief minister Hemant Soren with the alleged cash recovery.
“It is shocking the way BJP operates these days. Different media houses have been quoting different numbers. The IT department is yet to come out with an official statement as the raid is still underway. But the Prime Minister, who holds a constitutional post, tweets a news report when the Parliament is also in session, which is latched on by the national spokesperson and state president to make wild allegations. This is being done merely to manufacture a false political narrative against the opposition parties,” said Supriyo.
Hitting back at Jharkhand BJP chief Babulal Marandi, Supriyo said it seems the BJP leaders worked as “accountant” of Dheeraj Sahu.
“Has he worked as accountant of Sahu because he knows everything about Sahu’s transactions and whose money was being recovered from a business family of which one member happens to be in politics. Many raids are conducted by the I-T department. Why does he not speak about them? He should either produce proof or refrain from making such baseless allegations,” said Supriyo.
Jharkhand BJP chief Babulal Marandi had on Friday alleged that the trail of the cash recovered in the ongoing raids could reach the doorstep of chief minister Hemant Soren.
Meanwhile, defending his party MP, Jharkhand Congress chief Rajesh Thakur said it was wrong on part of the prime minister to tweet a news clip over the raids when the investigation was still on.
“Why only ₹200 crore. He could have tweeted saying it would be ₹1000 crore. It is Dheeraj Sahu’s bad luck that he does not carry the Modi surname. Because the PM never tweeted about Nirav and Lalit Modi and Mehul Choksi,” Thakur told reporters.
Reacting to the JMM’S allegation, the BJP accused the two ruling parties in the state of shielding each other’s corruption.
“The two parties have allied not only to form the government but also to come in defence of each other on the issue of corruption. JMM should explain under which any rule any individual or a businessman is allowed to keep so much of cash. The JMM spokesperson himself is confused. On the one hand, he says they would believe numbers only when they agency comes up with an official statement, but his government fails to act on official communications given to their government by the ED to act against the corrupt officials,” said BJP general secretary Pradip Verma.
