Reacting sharply to the Income Tax department serving a fresh notice to the Congress party asking it to pay ₹1,823.08 crore, All India Congress Committee general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal has accused the BJP-led Union government of “stifling Congress financially” in its bid to make the main Opposition party bankrupt.
Speaking to reporters in Alappuzha on Friday, Mr. Venugopal said the Narendra Modi government was trying to choke Opposition parties and silence protesting voices ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
“Political parties are typically exempted from paying taxes. We have been served the notice citing a delay in filing returns. This is a deliberate attempt by the Modi government to bankrupt the Congress party during the election period. The BJP is using the administrative mechanism to target Congress as it knows well that they will face a major setback in the polls,” Mr. Venugopal said, adding that the Congress would organise a nationwide protest on Saturday and Sunday against the misuse of central agencies by the government.
‘Bid to stifle INC’
Claiming that the BJP too had not paid any I-T returns, but remained out of the I-T department’s radar, the Congress leader said the officials of Central agencies were being used as henchmen of the ruling dispensation. Later, in a tweet, Mr. Venugopal said that if the same treatment was meted out to the BJP, they should have to pay ₹4,600 crore.
“Notice, account freeze, notice, account freeze. That is the BJP’s modus operandi of stifling INC (Indian National Congress) financially. In a new bizarre notice, a penalty of ₹1,800 crore has been imposed on INC. Is this how a fair election is supposed to be conducted? Is the idea of a level playing field only on paper? Why is the Election Commission a mute spectator to this? If the same treatment was meted out to the BJP, they should have to pay ₹4,600 crore. But has there been any action on them? Have any of the authorities involved moved an inch against them? This is a blatant murder of democracy and we will protest across the country against this illegal action,” he said in the tweet.
