The Congress party has mounted scathing attack on the Centre after the stunning revelation of electoral bonds. Top sources on Cong Parliamentary strategy meeting said that they will not let the issue of electoral bonds die down and they will make the government answerable. Reaching out to opposition parties to build a floor strategy against the government, the Congress said that they want a detailed discussion on it.
Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor said, “When electoral bonds were introduced, many of us had raised serious objections about how it could easily become a way for rich corporations and individuals to influence improperly political parties, particularly the ruling party.”
As per the investigative report by Nitin Sethi of HuffPost India, just ahead of assembly elections in Karnataka, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan, Prime Minister’s office ordered the Finance ministry to flout norms and sell electoral bonds illegally. The report also says that, the act was done in desire of more political funds by the PMO. When the rules were broken first, it was termed as an ‘exception’ but soon turned into a habit. So, the BJP Government has been allowing purchase of bonds even outside the permitted window, right before elections.
A confidential note uncovered by Huffpost India also revealed that the Election Commission was deliberately misled by the government of Narendra Modi to dilute it’s opposition to Electoral Bonds.