Factory linked to Piyush Goyal''s brother caught manufacturing BJP propaganda material illegally

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, April 12

Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal is caught in a storm after raids by the Election Commission on factories linked to his brother Pradeep yielded propaganda material being manufactured illegally for the BJP.

According to sources here, Election Commission officials raided factories belonging to a company called United Phosporous in Mumbai, Vapi and other places and recovered election propaganda material for the BJP. Apart from several speeches by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in electronic form, the seized material also included pictures and videos of fighter aircraft and defence personnel.

Election Commission officials said the raids were conducted earlier this week after they were tipped off that propaganda material was being illegally stocked in the factory.

The Mumbai Congress party said Pradeep Goyal was an Independent Director of the company which had bid for several contracts by the Maharashtra government.

"We want an investigation as to how many propaganda materials were manufactured and distributed from this facility," Sachin Sawant, spokesman of the Congress party, said.

Following the raid, the BJP has distanced itself from Pradeep Goyal.

"There is no violation as the propaganda material found in the factory has been confiscated," Maharashtra education minister Vinod Tawde told reporters here.

He further added that the BJP had nothing to do with Pradeep Goyal.