‘PM got kickbacks in 9 installments’

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has alleged that corporates paid crores of rupees as bribes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2013-14 when he was Gujarat’s Chief Minister, prompting the BJP to say that his claims were baseless.

“He got kickbacks in nine installments over a period of 6 months. On November 22, 2014, there was a raid on Sahara company. The income tax department raided them and seized their records,” Gandhi told a rally in Gujarat’s Mehsana, according to a report. 

The Congress vice-president said there were entries which showed that on October 30, 2013, Rs 2.50 crore was given to Modi, on November 12, Rs 5 crore was given to Modi, on November 27, Rs 2.5 crore was given to Modi and on November 29, Rs 5 crore was given to him.

“This record is with the Income Tax department for the past two-and-a-half years. The Income Tax people had said there should be a probe into this. But why an inquiry hasn’t been done for so long,” he asked.

Speaking at a public rally in Gujarat, which will vote for a new government in 2017, he continued his tirade against the PM over demonetisation. He said the government’s step is not against corruption or black money, but it was against the honest poor people. He added: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demonetisation is not a surgical strike on black money, but against poor and honest people of the this country.” Talking about the difficulties faced by the farmers after demonetisation, Gandhi said: “A farmer does not purchase his seeds by cheque or card but in cash, you (PM Modi) have taken away that cash from them.”

Hitting out at the government over scrapping of high value notes, he reiterated that all cash is not black money and all black money is not in cash. He also added that the Congress would have supported the government if it had taken any step to eradicate corruption, also adding that the Prime Minister had made fun of labourers in Parliament. He also accused the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh of snatching the land of tribals.  Soon after, in New Delhi, the BJP dismissed all charges made by the Congress leader. “It has become their (Congress) habit to level baseless allegations against the PM. Rahul Gandhi is a part time non-serious political leader,” said a party statement. 

Union minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “The public knows that Rahul Gandhi doesn’t think before he speaks.” Prasad said the Prime Minister is “pure as Ganga” and Gandhi is questioning him. Union minister Kiren Rijiju added: “Why do you take Rahul Gandhi so seriously. Even the Congress people don’t take him seriously.”