New Delhi, Mar 21 (UNI) Top leaders of the Congress party came together on Thursday and accused the BJP of looting the donation given by the common public by freezing its accounts and forcibly withdrawing the money.
They also alleged that the ruling party has immensely benefitted from the electoral bonds, which were termed as illegal and unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of India.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who was also addressed by CPP chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former party president Rahul Gandhi, general secretary Jairam Ramesh, and treasurer Ajay Maken, termed the freezing of bank accounts of the country's main opposition as an "attack on democracy".
Stressing that there should be an 'equal level playing field for all political parties', Kharge said, "The elections for the 18th Lok Sabha will not be held again, therefore, to maintain a level playing field, it is imperative that the agency defreeze our accounts immediately.'
He alleged that more than Rs Six thousand crore have been deposited into the account of the BJP.
"Our accounts have been frozen so that we are not able to contest the elections equally due to a lack of funds, and this is a dangerous game being played by the ruling party. This will have far reaching effects," Kharge claimed.
"It is clear that creating obstacles to contesting elections by rendering any political party helpless in this manner can never be called a free and fair election," Kharge said.
Meanwhile, CPP chairperson Sonia Gandhi has accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi of crippling the Congress financially.
She said, "A systematic effort is underway by the Prime Minister to cripple the Congress financially. Funds collected from the public are being frozen, and money from our accounts is being taken away forcibly. However, even under these most challenging circumstances, we are doing our best to maintain the effectiveness of our election campaign."
"On the one hand, there is the Electoral Bond issue, which has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The electoral bonds have greatly benefited the BJP. On the other hand, the finances of the principal opposition party, the INC, are under a determined assault. This is truly unprecedented, the former party president said.
Speaking on the issue, Rahul Gandhi said, "With all the bank accounts of our party frozen, in such a situation we cannot campaign, we cannot pay our workers, we cannot leave aside flights, we can't even take a train."
He further said, "Being the main opposition, 20 percent of the country votes for us, and we are not able to pay even Rs 2. Even if our accounts are unfrozen today, it will be difficult as huge damage has already been done to the democracy of India."
The party vowed to knock on all the doors to save democracy and also go to the people of the country and urge them to help their candidates.
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