Bahujan Samaj Party President Mayawati on Friday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party a day after the Income Tax Department attached a benami plot in Noida in the National Capital region worth Rs 400 crore belonging to her brother Anand Kumar and his wife Vichiter Lata, PTI reported.
Mayawati alleged the saffron party, which is in power in Uttar Pradesh and the Centre, cannot tolerate the people from deprived sections who achieve success in business. She asked the BJP to declare its source of funds received during the Lok Sabha elections.
“Everybody knows that during elections BJP got Rs 2,000 crore in its bank accounts,” said Mayawati. “It is not clear who gave it the money and everyone wants to know its source. Is it benami?” She accused the BJP of using the money to buy votes.
The Bahujan Samaj Party president asked the BJP to introspect before pointing fingers at others. “If they think they are Harishchand [honest] they should hold a probe about the wealth of their people before and after coming into politics,” she added.
The wealth of Anand Kumar and his wife reportedly rose steeply between 2007 to 2012, when Mayawati was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, an unidentified tax department official told IANS. Anand Kumar was recently appointed the national vice-president of the Bahujan Samaj Party.
On Thursday, Mayawati had criticised the ruling party and claimed they were misusing their power to falsely implicate members of the Opposition in cases.
The BSP chief recalled a similar incident that had happened in 2003. She said the BJP government at the time had used the Income Tax department and the Central Bureau of Investigation to harass her but she got justice from the Supreme Court after a long struggle.
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