BELLIGERENT IN the face of an Income Tax notice to his wife Pankaja Kumari, Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh issued an open challenge to the Congress government and the IT department to order raids on his residences and properties.
"This will benefit me politically. In the past when Mayawati was in power she ordered raids against us. It only proved beneficial to us as the entire world got to know the truth," Singh said.
But he dropped enough hints that the party would turn it into an electoral issue for the February 2007 assembly elections in UP. Besides indicating that that he would not be able to restrain his supporters from accompanying him to the IT office if the department serves him a notice, he also hinted that the matter would be raised in the monsoon session of Parliament.
The Congress has dismissed Amar Singh's moves as part of the SP's "diversionary tactics'' to deflect attention from the Mulayam government's failures on the developmental and law and order fronts.
Singh told reporters that he and his wife had no reasons to fear IT notices and said she had replied as required. He did not recall when the notice was served but said: "I think it was about a month back". IT department sources, however, claimed that the first notice was sent in March. After her reply was scrutinised and some alleged discrepancies detected, Singh's wife was served a fresh notice.
{{/usCountry}}Singh told reporters that he and his wife had no reasons to fear IT notices and said she had replied as required. He did not recall when the notice was served but said: "I think it was about a month back". IT department sources, however, claimed that the first notice was sent in March. After her reply was scrutinised and some alleged discrepancies detected, Singh's wife was served a fresh notice.
{{/usCountry}}Singh denied that the protests against the IT authorities over the reported notices to Amitabh Bachchan were being orchestrated by the SP.