Opposition parties, the Congress and the CPI on Friday, accused the ruling BJP of indulging in “tax terrorism” to financially cripple the Opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
While the grand old party said it has received fresh notices from the income-tax department, asking it to pay `1,823.08 crore, the Communist Party of India (CPI) received an IT notice over “dues” of `11 crore for using an old PAN card while filing tax returns during the last few years.
On the other hand the Congress alleged that the BJP is in “serious violation” of income-tax laws for which authorities should raise a demand of more than `4,600 crore from the saffron party.
Addressing a Press conference at the AICC headquarters along with Congress chief spokesman Jairam Ramesh, party treasurer Ajay Maken alleged that the BJP is in serious violation of income-tax laws and said the I-T department should raise a demand of `4,617.58 crore from the saffron party for such violations.
Maken said political parties have to fill up a proforma of Form 24A, in which two basic and important information have to be furnished — the names and addresses of their donors.
“We have analysed all the submissions of the BJP to the Election Commission (EC). The party has faltered every year,” Maken claimed.
Ramesh alleged that through the “electoral bonds scam”, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has collected `8,200 crore and used the route of “pre-paid, post-paid, post-raid bribes and shell companies”. On the other hand, the BJP is engaged in “tax terrorism”, he alleged.
Maken alleged that the Congress and other like-minded Opposition parties are being selectively targeted by the I-T department, which he described as the BJP’s “frontal organisation”.
He said the Supreme Court will soon hear the Congress’s plea on the I-T department’s demands from it.
Maken alleged that the “BJP-ruled I-T department” has so far forcibly taken out `135 crore from the Congress’s bank accounts due to an alleged `14 lakh non-compliance demand against the party. “This amount was recovered by freezing more than `270 crore of the Congress’s bank balance across several accounts,” he said.
During this period of several weeks, the bank accounts of the Congress were effectively “frozen” in an illegal attempt to paralyse the party’s functioning during the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Maken alleged.
In the history of India, why is the Congress, a tax-exempt political party like others, being “forced” to pay income tax during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, he asked.
“Why have the BJP or its alliance partners not been dealt with similarly? Why has the I-T department not taken cognisance of the Yediyurappa diaries, Jain diaries, Sahara diaries, Birla diaries, Bangaru Lakshman convictions and penalised the BJP?” he asked.
The CPI on its part said the Left party is consulting its lawyers to challenge the notice of the tax authorities.
