Foreign funding for AAP being probed, says Shinde
13 Nov 2013 5:00 AM IST
‘Complaints have come to me. We are probing the matter,’ he said during a monthly press conference, adding that the government is trying to determine, ‘From where the funds are coming, from which country, what is the source etc.’
The home minister, however, said such a probe takes time and indicated that the outcome of the investigation may not come before the Delhi Assembly polls scheduled for 4 December. ‘Such matters take time. One has to see from which foreign country the donations may be coming from,’ he said. AAP, led by activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal, is fighting the polls.
Shinde said the inquiry has been ordered only with regard to AAP as the complaints of alleged foreign funding were against the new party.
Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit had on Sunday questioned the source of funding for AAP, whose main election plank is to check corruption.
AAP has been relentlessly attacking Dikshit and her government on the issue of corruption.
The new party has said it had collected around Rs 19 crore till 8 November as donations from 63,000 people including a host of NRIs.
It has claimed to have received donations ranging from Rs 10 to several lakhs, from rickshawpullers to traders and industrialists to fight the polls and bring a ‘graft-free’ administration.
The Representation of People Act (RPA) debars political parties from receiving contributions from a foreign source defined under clause (e) of the Section 2 of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 1976.
The FCRA, too, states that it has been formulated ‘to ensure that the foreign contribution and foreign hospitality is not utilized to affect or influence electoral politics, public servants, judges and other people working in the important areas of national life like journalists, printers and publishers of newspapers among others.’
The home minister, however, said such a probe takes time and indicated that the outcome of the investigation may not come before the Delhi Assembly polls scheduled for 4 December. ‘Such matters take time. One has to see from which foreign country the donations may be coming from,’ he said. AAP, led by activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal, is fighting the polls.
Shinde said the inquiry has been ordered only with regard to AAP as the complaints of alleged foreign funding were against the new party.
Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit had on Sunday questioned the source of funding for AAP, whose main election plank is to check corruption.
AAP has been relentlessly attacking Dikshit and her government on the issue of corruption.
The new party has said it had collected around Rs 19 crore till 8 November as donations from 63,000 people including a host of NRIs.
It has claimed to have received donations ranging from Rs 10 to several lakhs, from rickshawpullers to traders and industrialists to fight the polls and bring a ‘graft-free’ administration.
The Representation of People Act (RPA) debars political parties from receiving contributions from a foreign source defined under clause (e) of the Section 2 of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 1976.
The FCRA, too, states that it has been formulated ‘to ensure that the foreign contribution and foreign hospitality is not utilized to affect or influence electoral politics, public servants, judges and other people working in the important areas of national life like journalists, printers and publishers of newspapers among others.’
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