Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Tuesday accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of misusing official machinery to “target” and “malign” her party and its top leaders, a day after the Enforcement Directorate detected cash deposits totalling over ₹100 crore in accounts belonging to her party and her brother.
Accusing the BJP of distorting facts, Ms. Mayawati said all bank deposits were made in accordance with tax “norms” as part of the party’s “routine exercise.”
ED’s detection
The ED on Monday detected cash deposits of over ₹104 crore in an account belonging to the BSP and ₹1.43 crore in an account belonging to Ms. Mayawati’s brother, Anand Kumar, a businessman, in a branch of United Bank of India in Delhi during a routine survey to check suspicious deposits, PTI reported.
Ms. Mayawati said the deposits made into her brother’s accounts were also made in accordance with the norms. She said the BJP was indulging in political vendetta after her “revelations” on the SP-Congress tie-up had rattled the party. The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were targeting the BSP and its top leaders, she claimed, as she was the first leader to publicly oppose the demonetisation move.
The Rajya Sabha MP said the BJP had “managed” a few newspapers and television channels as part of a “well-thought strategy” and “conspiracy” to malign her party and “present the sum deposited as black money and linked to corruption.” This was done to “politically damage” her party’s image before the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
The four-time U.P. Chief Minister said it reflected a “casteist and anti-Dalit” mentality of the government, and while her deposits were highlighted, those of the BJP were hardly a matter of discussion. If the BJP was “so honest,” she dared it to make public the deposits made into its accounts in the ten months prior to demonetisation and also post-demonetisation.
Ms. Mayawati claimed that she was being targeted by Mr. Modi as she highlighted the problems faced due to demonetisation by 90 per cent of the population, both inside and outside Parliament.
Assets case
Ms. Mayawati said that the BJP had tried to play similar tactics before the previous elections to malign her image with the disproportionate assets case and the Taj corridor scam.
Defending herself in the Taj corridor case, Ms. Mayawati said that of the ₹175 crore project, only ₹17 crore was spent during her tenure and that the top BSP leadership had no links with any wrongdoing.
