As the battle for Uttar Pradesh heats up ahead of crucial Assembly polls, a simmering new issue has found its way in the otherwise polarising poll campaign: tax raids at Kannauj. A few days ago, GST officials raided businessman Piyush Jain and seized nearly Rs. 200 crore unaccounted cash and 23 kilograms of gold from his possession. The BJP had claimed that the trader is linked to Samajwadi Party and had manufactured Samajwadi Perfume. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Home Minister Shah and CM Yogi Adityanath, BJP leaders hit out at SP and Akhilesh Yadav for alleged corruption and tax evasion. However, it has now appeared that the perfume trader raided by the tax sleuths is not linked to the Samajwadi Party. Akhilesh Yadav claimed that the P.Jain, raided by the tax officials, was actually a BJP man and that the party has inadvertently exposed its own corruption by raiding the wrong man instead of Pushparaj Jain, the SP MLC who is also the perfume trader. After it came to fore that Pushparaj is linked to SP, the tax officials raided his premises, prompting Akhilesh to allege political vendetta ahead of polls. Our senior editor Aditi Prasad explains the entire row in this episode of Take 5. Take a look.
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