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Jairam Ramesh takes ‘black money’ dig at BJP over electoral bonds data
Jairam Ramesh's comments came as the electoral bonds data revealed that the BJP garnered the highest amount of electoral bonds around ₹6,900 crore.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Sunday hit out at the central government over the electoral bonds and alleged that they have “conspired” to “route black money” into BJP's accounts through the scheme. According to the Congress leader, the electoral bonds scheme was the “biggest extortion racket” run by the ruling government.
Ramesh's comments came as the electoral bonds data revealed that the BJP garnered the highest amount of electoral bonds around ₹6,900 crore. The Congress received over ₹1,300 crore worth of bonds.
“We had previously identified four primary channels of corruption in the #ElectoralBondScam scam, and with each passing day, more examples emerge to confirm the shocking reality of the corruption which has engulfed this country through Narendra Modi’s encouragement,” the Congress leader wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Also read: ‘Electoral bonds is an experiment’: RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale
Stating that “as many as 18 of the 19 companies that had bought electoral bonds did not appear in the subsequent annual lists of 'high risk' companies”, Ramesh questioned, if they were removed from the list because of their “contribution to the ruling party's coffers”.
He went on to allege that big companies were “made to pay hefty donations to the BJP to get big contracts later”, while several companies were "forced" to pay up after probe agencies like the ED, the Income Tax, and the CBI were let loose on them. The Congress leader cited an example of one of the donors - Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharmaceuticals - claiming it faced an ED probe after which it purchased the electoral bonds.
“Since 2018, at least 43 companies that were newly incorporated, in 2018 or later, bought electoral bonds within months of their incorporation…The prime minister promised to deposit 15 lakhs in each Indian's account by recovering black money from overseas. It appears the Prime Minister has conspired to route all the black money into the BJP's accounts instead,” he said.
The Election Commission uploaded the State Bank of India (SBI)-provided data on the electoral bonds on its website on Thursday, in compliance with the Supreme Court's directions. According to the data published in two parts, the parties that redeemed electoral bonds include the BJP, Congress, AIADMK, BRS, Shiv Sena, TDP, YSR Congress, DMK, JDS, NCP, Trinamool Congress, JDU, RJD, AAP, and the Samajwadi Party.
There are 1,260 companies and individuals that purchased electoral bonds worth ₹12,769 crore, as per the data. The top donors include - SN Mohanty, the biggest individual donor in the list with total donations of ₹45 crore, followed by Lakshmi Niwas Mittal who donated ₹35 crore. Other high-profile donors are - Grasim Industries, Megha Engineering, Piramal Enterprises, Torrent Power, Bharti Airtel, DLF Commercial Developers, Vedanta Ltd., Apollo Tyres, Lakshmi Mittal, Edelweiss, PVR, Keventer, Sula Wine, Welspun, and Sun Pharma, among others.
