The Hindu : Front Page : Black money will be an election issue in Gujarat

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Monday, Apr 06, 2009
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Black money will be an election issue in Gujarat

Manas Dasgupta

State BJP to hold referendum on the issue on April 11, 12
“Centre failed to take steps to bring such money back”

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat will go to a “referendum” later this week on whether black money from the country stashed in foreign banks should be brought back and used for uplift of the poor and downtrodden.

The demand earlier voiced by the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, L.K. Advani, in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is sought to be made an election issue by the ruling party in the State.

State BJP president Purshottam Rupala said here on Sunday that polling on the referendum would be held through some 2,000 mobile polling booths placed at important public places all over the State, including at the railway stations, market places, multiplexes and such other centres, on April 11 and 12.

The mobile booths would be brought to 25 district headquarters on April 13 for counting. The results would be announced by some important citizens on April 14.

The referendum would ask questions to be replied in ‘yes’ or ‘no’ — whether the voters agreed that such black money be brought back and used for the welfare of the poor and downtrodden. It would also seek to know from the people whether they agreed with the concept “mooted” by Mr. Advani and Chief Minister Narendra Modi on the issue.

The outcome of the referendum, which the BJP expect would be largely in the affirmative, would be carried through at their election meetings by Mr. Advani and Mr. Modi all over the country.

“Black money was never an election issue. But it has been made one by the inaction of the UPA government at the Centre,” Mr. Rupala said.

The suggestions to take steps to bring back the black money from the foreign banks was originally suggested by Mr. Advani more than a year back and repeated several times, but the government failed to take necessary steps. Sources close to Mr. Modi said various estimates suggest that more than Rs. 25 lakh crores of Indian money had been parked in Swiss banks.

New BJP members

Mr. Rupala also claimed that about 500 Congress workers in Broach district, the home district of Ahmed Patel, the political adviser to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, had joined the BJP.

Prominent among those to cross over to the BJP were the former district Congress president and presently the chairman of the district co-operative bank, Arunsinh Rana; the chairman of the Ankleshwar agricultural produce marketing yard, Karsan Patel; and the chairman of the Broach cotton union, Chandrakant Patel.

Meanwhile, State Congress president Siddhartha Patel said U.S. President Barack Obama’s praise of Mr. Singh for the direction he had given to the economy, had “exposed” his critics who described him as a “weak” prime minister.

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