The CPI(M) has accused the Congress in Kerala of crying wolf by claiming it had no money to fund its Lok Sabha election campaign.
On Wednesday, CPI(M) State Secretary M.V. Govindan appeared to scoff at Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan’s assertion that the Congress’s election war chest was bone dry and that the party could ill-afford to buy a “glass of lime juice” for workers braving the heat to meet voters.
Mr. Govindan said Mr Satheesan’s contention that the Congress’s cash woes stem from the Income Tax department’s contentious decision to block the party from accessing its bank accounts for belatedly filing the 2017-18 tax returns was laughable.
He said the I-T department had denied Congress access only to a minimal sum.
“Mr. Satheesan should explain to voters how the Congress spent the ₹1,952 crores it got as electoral bonds from economic offenders, black money hoarders and other dubious business interests. He might as well elucidate to the electorate why a prominent Congress family member battling money laundering and financial fraud charges purchased electoral bonds amounting to ₹170 crores in favour of the ruling BJP“, Mr. Govindan said.
He said the Congress had benefitted from the electoral bond scam. However, the BJP was the main culprit, profiting most from the protection racket scheme, an estimated ₹2,251 crores.
Mr. Govindan said the BJP had used the Enforcement Directorate, CBI, and Income Tax department as thugs to extort money from businesses, individuals, wrongdoers, and lawbreakers.
“The departments used the power of arrest, incarceration, and prosecution to browbeat individuals and businesses into buying electoral bonds in the BJP’s favour. The electoral bond scheme is the biggest extortionist scam the world has ever witnessed,” he said.
The Congress also wanted a slice of the electoral bond pie. However, the CPI(M) opposed the scheme in the Supreme Court. It refused to take a nationalised bank registration to redeem any bond purchased in the party’s favour.
The LDF has made the electoral bond scam an election issue. The Supreme Court had exposed the fraud engineered behind the back of the electorate. The expose had wrongfooted the BJP and Congress. However, the CPI(M) stood tall.
Mr. Govindan said the owners of big media houses, including in Kerala, had purchased electoral bonds later redeemed by the BJP to keep I-T and ED outside their doors. “It explained why a major Malayalam newspaper brand was reluctant to spotlight the scam,” he said.
