Views of the Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge and Shri Rahul Gandhi on Electoral Bonds Scam

In a twitter message by the Congress President on #Electoral Bonds Scam

Shri Mallikarjun Kharge said that PM Modi says “Na khaunga, na khaaney dunga” but it seems that he only meant – “Sirf BJP ko khilaunga.” The data released by State Bank of India shows that out of the total Electoral Bonds money collected, BJP got nearly 50% donation, while the principal opposition Party, Indian National Congress got only 11% of the funds.

There are many dubious donors. Who are these people? Which companies are these? Why have so many companies donated only after ED, IT and CBI raids? Who exerted the pressure on such companies? We demand the highest level of enquiry by the Hon’ble Supreme Court to investigate this saga of corruption by the BJP. It is quite worrying that the Bank Accounts of the Congress Party have been frozen. However, no action has been taken against the BJP which has illegally acquired crores and crores of money. Therefore, along with an enquiry, we demand that the Bank Accounts of BJP should be frozen with immediate effect due to the illegal nature of the funds received through the Electoral Bonds Scheme.

In a special press briefing, Shri Rahul Gandhi, MP & former Congress President and Shri Jairam Ramesh, AICC General Secretary (Communications), address the media in Thane, Maharashtra on #ElectoralBondsScam on March 15, 2024.

Shri Rahul Gandhi said- A few years back, the Prime Minister came up with a concept which he claimed was designed to clean Indian Political Finance and at the heart of the concept was the idea of the electoral bond…the ability for corporates to give electoral bonds unanimously. Now, it turns out that this is a way of extorting money from India’s largest corporates. It is a way of stealing money from the contracts in the country. It is a way of intimidating corporates and making them…, forcing them to give money to the BJP.

So, it is the world’s biggest corruption, scam. It is the world’s biggest extortion racket and it is run by the Prime Minister of India. I don’t really expect the Indian media to pick up this in a large way because I know, you know from past experience the type of things you focus on. But this is a huge theft taking place right in front of everybody’s eyes and it has been orchestrated by the Indian Prime Minister.

On a question about electoral bonds, Shri Rahul Gandhi said- Look! The question is not whether it is 10 per cent, 20 per cent, 50 per cent and more, the question is that none of the opposition parties have access to contracts at the national level. None of the opposition parties are giving highway contracts, are giving defence contracts to these people. So, none of the opposition parties are controlling the CBI, none of the opposition parties are putting Pegasus on people’s phones, none of the opposition parties are controlling the Income Tax department, none of the opposition parties are controlling the ‘Extortion Directorate’. These are all controlled directly by the BJP and by the Prime Minister of India and what we are seeing, it’s criminal extortion from corporate India. Every single corporate knows this. They are scared, they have pressure, but this is what is going on. The question here is not an opposition, the question here is that months after a contract is given, the corporate is suddenly giving electoral bonds to the BJP.

On another question about Electoral Bonds, Shri Rahul Gandhi said- These are not allegations, these are facts. If you look at these companies, you can see that certain of these companies have never donated money to the BJP, have got an ED case on them, CBI case on them and then immediately, they are giving money to the BJP. You can see that there are a large number of shell companies here which are connected to other companies, which are giving money to the BJP. It's upfront, so don’t try and create this idea of technicality. Okay! You please be an impartial journalist and you see what is in front of you and don’t try to muddy the waters. There is no question here of what is...

On another question, Shri Rahul Gandhi said- what do you mean, what happens next? What happens next is- this is the criminal act that has been imposed on the people of India, that's what happens next. An investigation of this obvious act... hopefully it will take place…the Supreme Court acts on this and as important, maybe it’s about time, some of you start writing about it. On another question about contracts given to some companies in Congress-ruled states, Shri Rahul Gandhi said-Our government in Telangana has come a few months ago. No, actually you are wrong, that’s not what happened. Again, we are not controlling the ED, we are not controlling the CBI, we are not controlling the Income Tax Department and there is no co-relation between contracts and funding to us. Please take a good look at the dates of these things and you will see that there is a co-relation between these things and the BJP.