Denying allegations of irregularities in the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) donations, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday said that the recent Income Tax Department notice to the AAP was “revenge” for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s appeal to Gujarat voters to defeat the BJP.
On Sunday, Mr. Kejriwal had appealed to Gujarat voters to vote for any party other than the BJP in the upcoming Assembly elections. A day later, the I-T Department confirmed that it had issued a notice to the AAP to recover ₹30.7 crore.
Sitting next to a pile of documents, which he said were details of every donation received by the party, Mr. Sisodia said that the Aam Aadmi Party had maintained records of its donations and submitted the same to the I-T department and the Election Commission of India.
‘Targeted by Centre’
He said that the AAP was the only political party that had been transparent in its funding, but was being targeted by the Centre.
Citing the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) reports, the minister claimed the BJP and the Congress had the highest percentage of unaccounted donations.
“This is an attempt to muzzle the voice of the AAP. The notice was sent after Mr. Kejriwal’s appeal to the people of Gujarat to vote against the BJP in the upcoming state assembly polls,” he said.
The AAP is contesting on limited seats in Gujarat, where elections are slated for December 9 and December 14 in two phases.