BJP, Congress lock horns over SC judgment on PM Cares fund

NEWDELHI: Bolstered by a Supreme Court decision that money collected by the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM Cares) fund need not be transferred to the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday launched a fresh broadside against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of trying to weaken the fight against Covid-19.

A three-judge bench headed by justice Ashok Bhushan held on Tuesday that the establishment of the PM Cares Fund in March had been necessitated by Covid-19 and the requirement of financial resources to deal with the pandemic, and that the court cannot object to it. Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, said the PM Cares Fund was a registered public fund headed by the PM and it has been created to tackle Covid-like emergencies. Attacking the Congress, Prasad alluded to allegations that when Manmohan Singh was PM, money was given to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, which is a family foundation. “We have completed six years today and are in the seventh year. We work honestly and no one has been able to cast any aspersion that is backed by facts. Some people merely keep saying things, that is another matter,” said Prasad.

He alleged that Rahul Gandhi had tried to weaken the country’s unity in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. When the nation saluted those at the front-lines of the fight against the coronavirus disease, Gandhi mocked them, Prasad said. “I regret to say in view of the conduct of Rahul Gandhi right from day one, he never spared any opportunity to weaken the national resolve in the fight against corona,” Prasad said.

BJP chief JP Nadda hailed the SC verdict.

The Congress expressed disappointment over the verdict. Its chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the Supreme Court let go an opportunity to bring transparency to the fund.