Congress takes a 'Pradhan mantri hafta vasuli yojana' jibe at BJP over electoral bonds data

New Delhi, March 15

The Congress on Friday alleged that the electoral bonds data has exposed “corrupt tactics” of the BJP such as quid pro quo, seeking donations for the company’s protection, kickbacks and money laundering through shell companies.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also hit back at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for her reported remarks that the link between the ED/CBI/IT raids on firms and donations through electoral bonds are based on “assumptions”, saying “we invite her to release the full data of who donated how much to which political party”.

“The Finance Minister says that the link between the ED/CBI/IT raids on firms and their subsequent donations to the BJP are based on ‘assumptions’. If these ‘assumptions’ are untrue, then we invite her to release the full data of who donated how much to which political party. It will put an end to the discussion once and for all,” Ramesh said.

“It must be remembered that the Finance Minister is in charge of both the State Bank of India, which administers the Electoral Bond scam, and the Enforcement Directorate, which enforces the ‘Pradhan Mantri Hafta Vasuli Yojana’,” Ramesh said in a post on X.

The Congress general secretary said the party continues to demand unique bond ID numbers, so that it can precisely match donors to recipients.

His remarks came a day after the Election Commission (EC) put up the data on electoral bonds on its website.

Ramesh also put out on X a “quick first analysis” of the Electoral Bonds (EB) data disclosure that the SBI put out after weeks of “attempting to postpone it until after the election”.

“Over 1,300 companies and individuals have donated electoral bonds, including over Rs 6,000 crore to the BJP since 2019,” he said.