Raut again targets NGO of BJP leader
HT Correspondent
MUMBAI: Continuing his attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday said he had details of the financial misdoings by 28 prominent party leaders, and he would soon make them public.
Raut also alleged that Yuvak Pratisthan, an NGO run by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, received lakhs of rupees in donations from a stock broking firm, which was under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) scam.
“The people who speak of ending corruption hold the reins of corruption. These people started it, but now we will take it forward. Daily, such cases will be disclosed. It is not only Somaiya, I have details of the financial misdeeds by 28 prominent BJP leaders,” he said.
In its reaction, BJP said Raut’s allegations must not be taken seriously as he did not show any proof.
“Raut, the Nationalist Congress Party spokesperson, who is in Sena, has challenged BJP saying he will expose cases of 28 BJP leaders. He is free to do it. We are ready to face any inquiry. But the real question is how serious all these allegations are in the absence of evidence... There is no need to take Raut seriously,” Maharashtra BJP chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhye said.
Raut said Yuvak Pratisthan was a tool to convert black money into white and that the charity commissioner and the economic offences wing of the Mumbai police would inquire into all such donations. “Somaiya had demanded a probe on Motilal Oswal in the ₹5,600 crore NSEL scam. Later, donations from Motilal Oswal worth several lakhs of rupees were given [to Yuvak Pratisthan]. Two cheque transactions have come to the fore.”
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Somaiya said, “I will not be surprised if someday he [Raut] wakes up and says [chief minister] Uddhav Thackeray’s scam [involving] 19 bungalows was executed by Kirit Somaiya. The ₹5,600 crore NSEL scam was unearthed by me; the action we see today came after my PIL in the Bombay high court in 2013. He said he had complained to the charity commissioner, and we are ready for it. He is not giving out any new information; all this information is available on the website.”