- By Radha Basnet
- Fri, 29 Mar 2024 02:45 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
The Income Tax Department's notice to the Congress to pay a penalty of over Rs 1,700 crore, sparked a harsh response from the party on Friday, accusing the officers of acting as the "gundas" of the ruling BJP. Taking a dig at the Narendra Modi-led BJP government, AICC general secretary in charge of the organisation, KC Venugopal accused it of trying to "financially strangulate" the opposition parties during the election time.
Adding a press conference, Venugopal said the Modi government was trying to make the Congress party bankrupt. A fresh notice from the Income Tax Department came after the Delhi High Court had rejected Congress' petitions challenging the tax reassessment proceedings against it.
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"Usually, the political parties are exempted from paying taxes. However, this penalty is in the name of delay in filing returns. The Narendra Modi government is doing this with the specific purpose of bankrupting the Congress party at a time when we are facing elections," Venugopal said as quoted by news agency PTI.
He claimed that the BJP too has not paid any returns, but they were safe from IT Department notices. "They are attacking the opposition parties using the government mechanism. This is a move to butcher democracy," Venugopal said. "Our accounts were frozen earlier and now our funds have been blocked. The BJP regime is exploiting the government machinery to target the main opposition party as they know that they will face a huge setback in the upcoming elections," he added.
The Congress is already in financial trouble as a result of the Income Tax authorities freezing its funds and levying a Rs 210 crore fine. The party is expected to move the Supreme Court as the High Court did not grant them any redress in this matter. The party has accused the BJP of squeezing it financially and of using tax authorities against it ahead of Lok Sabha elections beginning April 19. The polling on 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases and the results will be declared on June 4.
(With Agencies Inputs)