The Congress on February 22 accused the Narendra Modi-led Union government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of unleashing “financial terrorism” on the principal Opposition party to “cripple” their election preparation and deny them a level playing field.
Announcing that the Income Tax (IT) department had withdrawn ₹65.89 crore from the Congress’ bank accounts, party general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal alleged that the ruling party was attempting to “murder the world’s largest democracy” and drag the country into a “dictatorship raj”.
The IT department action is part of an ongoing tax dispute. The department has raised a demand of ₹210 crore against the Congress over an alleged discrepancy in filing IT returns for the assessment year 2018-2019. The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal is hearing the party’s appeal against the IT department’s action and has stayed any further withdrawal from Congress bank accounts.
