Funding under probe, Kejriwal's party cries witch-hunt

Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said on Monday that the Centre has ordered a probe into the source of foreign funding received by Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is set to make its political debut in the December 4 Delhi elections.

Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said on Monday that the Centre has ordered a probe into the source of foreign funding received by Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is set to make its political debut in the December 4 Delhi elections.

Accusing the government of a “witch hunt”, the AAP said it has broken no law and demanded a similar inquiry against other political parties.

“Finish the probe in 48 hours. But let them also probe how Congress got funds worth Rs 2,000 crore. Let them also investigate the BJP’s funding.” Kejriwal snapped.

The home ministry move comes a day after Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit questioned the source of AAP’s funding, whose main election plank is to check corruption in the Capital.

Last month, the Delhi high court had asked the Centre to probe AAP’s source of funding and file a status report by December 10.

“Complaints have come to us (about AAP). We are probing the matter....From where the funds are coming, from which country, what is the source etc. We are trying to find out all these,” Shinde said.

AAP responded saying it would welcome any authority to check their accounts. “We are confident that we have not broken any law anywhere,” the party said in a statement, adding that it had collected about `19 crore till November 8.

“We have a record of every rupee we have got,” it added.

AAP has insisted its funds from abroad had been contributed by non-resident Indians, not foreign citizens. The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act only bars political parties from receiving funds from foreign sources.