BJP failed to check corruption, used Central agencies to target political opponents: TNCC chief
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K. Selvaperunthagai on Thursday said that the Narendra Modiled Union government had targeted its political opponents using agencies over the past 10 years.
In a statement, he said that before coming to power in 2014, Mr. Modi promised to eradicate corruption without any political interference if the BJP was voted to power. However, during the BJP’s 10year rule, the Central government’s exchequer had incurred a loss of ₹41,000 crore in the procurement of Rafale fighter jets. The Comptroller and AuditorGeneral had flagged an alleged scam of ₹7.5 lakh crore in allocating highway tenders. However, no action had been taken by the Central government, he said.
The “mega scam” of electoral bonds came to light only after the intervention of the Supreme Court, the Congress leader said, adding, “A total of 33 companies that recorded zero profit for the past seven years have donated ₹576 crore through electoral bonds, out of which ₹434 crore was donated to the BJP.”
Donations after contracts
He also alleged that these companies had recorded a total loss of more than ₹1 lakh crore. Some of them made donations to the BJP after getting government contracts. In many instances, the companies made the donations soon after agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate, the Income Tax Department and the Central Bureau of Investigation conducted checks on them, he said.
Mr. Selvaperunthagai claimed that some pharma companies that were blacklisted by the Union Finance Ministry for manufacturing poor quality medicines had also made donations to the BJP.
“Instead of taking action against those firms, the BJP government targets the Opposition leaders using the Enforcement Directorate. Between 2014 and 2022, a total of 121 politicians, mostly from the Opposition, were arrested by the ED, and 839 criminal cases were registered,” he said.