A day after reports surfaced that Enforcement Directorate (ED) detected cash deposits totalling Rs1.04 billion in a bank account belonging to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), party leader Mayawati on Tuesday blamed the Narendra Modi government of misusing its powers.

“The deposits were made following all due procedures. The money belongs to Bahujan Samaj Party and is entirely accounted for. This is just the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) misusing the state machinery against BSP,” Mayawati told media.

Alleging that BJP has an anti-Dalit (anti-low caste) mindset, she said, “they do not like that a Dalit daughter is working for the upliftment of the downtrodden community.

“It is clear that BJP is afraid of my popularity. I am the master key to 2017 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and BJP is visibly shaken. BJP cannot digest the popularity of my party in Uttar Pradesh.”

Mayawati said there was a nexus between BJP and media to tarnish her party’s image ahead of state elections.

“All the news channels and publications managed by BJP twisted the figures to portray Bahujan Samaj Party as a corrupt party. This is a political conspiracy against us. This kind of political vendetta is not acceptable,” she averred.

Mayawati dared Modi to make public the deposits made by BJP in the 10 months prior to November 8, when demonetisation of Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes was announced, and in the period thereafter.

“If the prime minister possesses a degree of honesty, he should make public any major expense, statement of deposits and expenditures from the BJP’s bank accounts. Let it all be out in the open,” she said.

On Monday, ED officials visited the Karol Bagh branch of the United Bank of India in New Delhi and found huge deposits recently made in BSP’s account. The ED also detected Rs14.3 million in an account belonging to Mayawati’s brother Anand Kumar.

Reacting to it, BJP spokesperson G.V.L. Narsimha Rao said any money deposited in bank accounts in excess of the acceptable limits has to be looked into by the ED.

“If more than one billion (rupees) has been deposited in BSP’s accounts, the party will possibly have to provide answers as to what is the source of this money. The enforcement agencies fear that a lot of unaccounted money, illegitimate money, money for which taxes have not been paid is being laundered into different accounts,” Rao told media.

BJP leader Nalin Kohli said this was not a political issue but the fight against black money.

“If Mayawati’s brother has an explanation, has a business, has a lot of money, has a lot of cash and he can explain that this is how it has come into my account; then there is no issue. But if the money is coming from unknown companies with whom he has no relations, then it is going to be a matter of investigation. This can’t be seen as a political issue. If Mayawati and her brother have explanations, they have nothing to fear,” he said.

Meanwhile, the ED on Tuesday sought more details about the two accounts from the bank. It has also asked the bank to provide CCTV footage and the KYC (Know Your Customer) documents used to open the accounts.

source : gulfnews