Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati Friday targeted the BJP and asked it to make public the source of its funds received during the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. She alleged that the party can’t tolerate when people from deprived sections progress, especially in business. Mayawati’s attack came a day after her brother and his wife’s ‘benami’ commercial plot in Noida, worth Rs 400 crore, was attached by the Income Tax Department.
“Everybody knows that during elections, BJP got Rs 2,000 crore in its bank accounts. It is not clear who gave it the money and everyone wants to know its source. Is it benami,” the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister questioned.
Alleging that votes of the poor and deprived for bought through these funds, Mayawati added: “The BJP cannot tolerate when people of the deprived sections progress, especially in business, and use power and government machinery against them.”
The BSP supremo stated that the saffron party’s attempt to crush the voices of deprived people would not succeed, adding that her supporters need not worry just because she was not spared. She also warned the BJP that before pointing a finger at others, it should introspect.
“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 said.
Mayawati on Thursday had termed the attachment order as a step by the BJP government to harass political rivals. In the provisional attachment order dated July 16, the Benami Prohibition Unit, Delhi, attached the property “beneficially owned” by Anand Kumar and his wife Vichiter Lata, approximately valued at Rs 400 crore, sources told The Indian Express. Mayawati had recently appointed her brother as the national vice president of BSP.
Under the benami law, “beneficial owner” means a person, whether his identity is known or not, for whose benefit the benami property is held by a benamidar.
(With inputs from PTI)