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New Delhi, Stung by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s remarks on the black money issue, the Congress today asked the Modi government to stop “blackmail” tactics and dared it to come out with full information, saying the party is above individuals.
A day after Arun Jaitley’s remarks that disclosure of names of those holding illicit foreign accounts will embarrass the Opposition party, party General Secretary Ajay Maken said the government should desist coming out with “half truths” and “selective leakage”.
“Congress is not going to be blackmailed under any such threat … Do not try to blackmail us. Stricter possible action should be taken against whoever is involved in it but that should not be inspired by vindictiveness and it should also not be half truths,” he told reporters.
The issue of black money has led to a war of words between the ruling BJP and Congress.
The Modi government, which promised to bring back black money stashed by Indians in foreign banks, toed the line of UPA regime by informing the Supreme Court on October 17 that it cannot disclose such details given by countries with which India has double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA).
As the Congress accused the BJP government of “practising hypocrisy” on the issue, Jaitely yesterday said, “The names (of black money account holders) will be public shortly… I can assure you there is no embarrassment I (BJP) will have when all the names are disclosed. There is some embarrassment the Congress party will have because of those names”.
Reacting sharply to Jaitley’s remarks, Maken said, “There is no need to blackmail the Congress. Whatever names they have, they should reveal and act as they have a government. They should not try to blackmail us.
“We also tell them not to limit the declaration of names only to 136 individuals. We want to tell the BJP and the Prime Minister that half truth is not the truth. They should not go for selective and vindictive leakages. They should come out with all the names.”
Maken also recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his Lok Sabha election campaign, had said that if the black money is brought back, each citizen will have Rs 15 lakh, while Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was then BJP President, had promised to bring back black money within 100 days.
“Do not mislead people about names. People of the country are not going to get into this trap of names. People of the country are waiting that when will the government bring back black money. Hundred days have already passed and it is to be 150 days. So not not a single penny has come.
“People of the country, including me, are waiting for Rs 15 lakh to come into their accounts as was promised by Modi ji,” he said.
Dismissing Jaitley’s remarks, AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh accused Jaitley of “bluffing”, while Youth Congress chief Rajiv Satav wondered what is stopping the Finance Minister from naming those people. — PTI
