The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday termed as “farce” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s direction to BJP lawmakers to submit details of bank transactions made between November 8 and December 31 to BJP president Amit Shah, even as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal gave him a “proposal” to probe bank details of MPs/MLAs of all parties by an independent committee.
Alleging that the BJP leaders knew about demonetisation much before Mr. Modi announced the move on November 8, Mr. Kejriwal said that bank details, spanning over five years, of all party MPs/MLAs should be probed by a committee of eminent people.
The CM said his party lawmakers were willing to face such a probe.
In a video posted on social networking site, Mr. Kejriwal had said that vast tracts of land were bought by the BJP leaders, some three-four months prior to the demonetisation decision and this should also be investigated.
“Accounts of your friends, whose bank loans amounting Rs.1 lakh crore you have waived off and those whose bank loans amounting Rs.8 lakh crore you are going to waive off should also be probed. Also check bank accounts of companies for whom you advertise,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
‘Another drama’
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, AAP leader Ashutosh said that Mr. Modi’s direction to BJP MPs and MLAs to submit their bank account statements of transaction to Mr. Shah was “another drama” meant to “hoodwink” the public, who are in “distress” due to demonetisation.
He questioned Mr. Shah’s authority in this regard, saying it should rather be given to the Income Tax Department.
The AAP leader also dared the BJP to disclose the source of “80 per cent of its funding”, which he claimed was unknown.
“He [Mr. Modi] is a very good event manager. It is a farce. What authority does Amit Shah hold? the Income Tax department should be given the details. The disclosures should be made public,” Ashutosh said.
The AAP’s national convener Dilip Pandey, who has been a strong critic of demonetisation move, also claimed that the government has brought down the penalty on those with black money.
“At first, the government announced that there would be 30 per cent tax and 200 per cent penalty. Now under the new scheme, there would be 30 per cent tax and 10 per cent penalty and there would be 33 per cent surcharge, which comes to around 10 per cent,” Mr. Pandey said.
Voluntary disclosure
The AAP leaders said that the proposed amendment to the tax law turns demonetisation into another voluntary disclosure scheme.
He said the situation on the ground would turn worse once money reaches the accounts of the salaried class in the beginning of next month.
“I don’t know why the government is trying to hide the real picture. The fact is that the government is short of cash. Nothing has normalised on ground. The proposed amendment to the tax law turns demonetisation into a voluntary disclosure scheme,” Mr. Pandey said.
