‘Finance minister must resign’: Congress on FIR over electoral bonds

The Congress on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and sought Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s resignation for “undermining democracy”.

The Congress on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and sought Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s resignation for “undermining democracy”, a day after Karnataka Police registered a first information report (FIR) against her on a complaint relating to the now-scrapped electoral bond scheme for political funding.

On Saturday, an FIR was registered against Nirmala Sitharaman, Union health minister and BJP president JP Nadda, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials and several others on charges of extortion and criminal conspiracy on the directions of a Bengaluru court the previous day. (Ministry of Finance-X)

The opposition party said the FIR has “unmasked the true nature” of the BJP, and reiterated its demand for a Supreme-court monitored inquiry through a special investigation team (SIT) into the whole electoral bond scheme.

The scheme was struck down by the top court on February 15 for anonymising political donations.

On Saturday, an FIR was registered against Sitharaman, Union health minister and BJP president JP Nadda, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials and several others on charges of extortion and criminal conspiracy on the directions of a Bengaluru court the previous day. The complaint by Adarsh R Iyer, co-president of ‘Janaadhikaara Sangharsha Parishath’, alleged that the accused “committed extortion under the guise and garb of electoral bonds” and benefited to the tune of more than ₹8,000 crore.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi with Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh, AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said: “The plan of the BJP, including the finance minister, had been sinister, especially since this FIR has unmasked the true nature of the BJP… We would certainly demand an objective probe under the court’s control but more importantly, ultimately supervised either by the Supreme Court or an SIT of the Supreme Court.”

Accusing the ruling BJP at the Centre of “undermining democracy”, Singhvi said “the finance minister cannot do this on her own.” “We know who is number one and number two (in the government) and this was done on whose directions,” he said.

The larger issue is the level-playing field, which is necessary for free and fair polls, Singhvi said. “Free and fair polls are critical for democracy. This is an attack on our democratic system,” he said, terming the electoral bond scheme “Extortionist BJP Scheme”.

The BJP hit back, saying the Congress is “rattled” by a Karnataka high court order to probe chief minister Siddaramaiah in the MUDA scam. He looted ₹55 crore from the public to provide undue benefits to his family. This corruption was promoted and supported by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. The Congress is trying to shift attention from the MUDA scam,” BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said. NEED TO SPECIFY WHERE THIS QUOTE BEGINS AND WHAT HE MEANS BY HE (SIDDARAMAIAH PRESUMABLY)

ANOTHER BJP QUOTE PREFERABLY, FOR BETTER BALANCE