Funding of party is clean, claims AAP

NEW DELHI: Claiming that the funding of the party is clean, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday said that the Congress and the BJP were indicted and found guilty by the Delhi High Court in March 2014.

The party said that the court had indicted both parties and directed the Election Commission and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to take appropriate action against the two within 6 months for receiving illegal foreign funding from Vedanta subsidiaries.

More than a year later, in June 2015, the EC wrote to the MHA pushing for action against the two parties. After a contempt case was filed against the Government for failing to comply with the Court's decision, the Delhi HC has sought a response from BJP over its non-compliance, and has asked why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against the Government.

The BJP attempted to retrospectively amend the FCRA so as to overturn the Delhi HC'S decision against the BJP and the Congress in December, 2016.

During a Press conference, senior AAP leader Atishi Marlena said, “FCRA was amended through the backdoor by introducing it as a Money Bill by the BJP last year, shielding it from a Rajya Sabha veto. The amendment changed the meaning of ‘foreign sources' in a manner that would legalize the donations made by Vedanta to both parties. The donations received from Vedanta from 2004 to 2010 continue to be illegal, and MHA must take action.”

National Spokesperson Dilip Pandey said: “The Congress filed an affidavit in HC on May 7, 2014 after scrutinizing AAP'S accounts that no illegal foreign funds had been accepted, and therefore no FCRA violation had taken place. A similar affidavit was filed by the BJP Government in o February 18, 2015. Despite their governments repeatedly stating this fact in Court, both parties repeatedly lie about AAP'S funding to malign the party's image."