Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday dubbed the electoral bonds as the ”world’s biggest extortion scheme” and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the ”champion of corruption”.
Addressing a joint press conference with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, the former Congress chief also said that there is a strong undercurrent in favour of the opposition INDIA bloc and the BJP will be limited to 150 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.
”This election is an ideological one. On the one hand, there is the RSS and the BJP who are trying to end the Constitution and the democratic system of the country, and on the other hand, is the INDIA bloc which is protecting and defending the Constitution and the democratic system,” Gandhi said at the presser flanked by Yadav, Congress general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and Avinash Pande, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai, and other SP leaders.
Gandhi said there are a few big issues in the Lok Sabha polls, such as unemployment and price rise, but the BJP is engaged in diverting attention from them.
”Sometimes the PM goes underwater in the ocean and sometimes he is on a seaplane but does not talk about issues,” he alleged.
Referring to a recent interview of PM Modi, Gandhi said it was ”scripted” and a ”flop show” with the prime minister also giving an explanation on electoral bonds.
The PM said the electoral bonds were brought for transparency to cleanse politics but if that is the case, then why did the Supreme Court discontinue them, Gandhi asked.
He further asked, ”If you wanted to bring transparency, then why were the names of those who donated thousands of crores (of rupees) to the BJP hidden?” Why were the dates on which the companies made donations to the BJP hidden, he asked.
”It was found that a company got a contract for thousands of crores (of rupees) and after a few days, that company made a donation to the BJP. There was a CBI or ED inquiry on a firm and after 10-15 days, that firm made a donation to the BJP and that inquiry was ended,” he charged.
The electoral bonds scheme is the ”world’s biggest extortion scheme”, the Congress leader said.
”No matter how much clarification the prime minister gives, it will make no difference because the whole country knows that the prime minister is the champion of corruption,” Gandhi alleged.
Asked how many seats he expects the Congress-SP alliance to win, Gandhi said that he does not predict the number of seats but can definitely say that the coalition will do very well in Uttar Pradesh.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)
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