PM Relief Fund money given to Rajiv foundation, says BJP

WAR OF WORDS BJP chief Nadda alleges fraud in funding of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Congress calls the charges a game of deception

NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) donated money to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) — a trust chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi — when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was in power at the Centre, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Friday, launching a fresh broadside against the opposition party in an ongoing war of words.

In a series of tweets, BJP president JP Nadda said “one family’s hunger for wealth” hurt the nation, and also accused the Congress of committing a “brazen fraud” by diverting public money into a “family-run foundation”. His allegations came a day after the BJP said both the Chinese government and the Chinese embassy in India contributed to RGF.

“PMNRF, meant to help people in distress, was donating money to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation in UPA years. Who sat on the PMNRF board? Smt. Sonia Gandhi. Who chairs RGF? Smt. Sonia Gandhi. Totally reprehensible, disregarding ethics, processes and not bothering about transparency,” Nadda tweeted.

He also posted images of lists of donors to RGF for the years 20072008 and 2005-2006 to back his claim. The list included several state-owned companies, including the State Bank of India and GAIL, and ministries including the ministry of home affairs and the ministry of health.

The Congress was quick to hit back after Nadda’s tweets, saying the BJP was playing a “diabolical game of deception” to divert attention from what it called “Chinese occupation” of Indian territory — a claim that came against the backdrop of a simmering dispute between India and China over the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Twenty Indian Army soldiers and an undisclosed number of Chinese troops died in a brawl in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on June 15, ratcheting up tensions between the neighbours amidst a military build-up on both sides of the disputed border. While the Congress accuses the government of ceding ground to the Chinese, the ruling BJP says the opposition party is playing with issues of national security.

People donated their money to PMNRF to help their fellow citizens... To divert this money into a family-run foundation is not only a brazen fraud but also a big betrayal...

JP NADDA, BJP president

This grant has been duly reflected in all filings to the income tax and the Home Ministry and no authority has ever found any wrongdoing of any nature CONGRESS