Gandhi, the opposition Congress party vice-president and scion of India’s Nehru-Gandhi family, said the allegations dating between 2013-14 were found in diary notes and computer records of the Sahara Group and the Birla Group and were in the possession of income tax authorities.
“Why these accusations are not being probed?” Gandhi told a party meeting on Wednesday in Gujarat. Modi was the state’s top elected official before he became prime minister in May 2014.
Gandhi said in his speech that tax authorities had looked into the allegations and favoured a full investigation. The government has not confirmed that and Sahara and Birla have not commented on the allegations.
“We want an independent inquiry. We want you [Modi] to come forward and tell the country yourself,” Gandhi said.
GVL Narsimha Rao, a spokesman for Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), dismissed Gandhi’s accusations as baseless and asked him to file a criminal case against Modi.
Sambit Patra, another BJP spokesman, accused Gandhi of “talking irrelevant things to stay relevant” and said his comments must be discounted. He told reporters that the allegations had previously been found to be unsubstantiated.
Gandhi has been highly critical of Modi’s ban on high-value currency notes, which was intended to force tax evaders to give up their cash stockpiles but also created hardship for ordinary Indians. The sudden withdrawal of 86% of India’s currency left cash in short supply, with retail sales stumbling and wholesale markets in turmoil. Hundreds of millions of people in India lack bank accounts and use cash to pay for everything from groceries to hospital stays to land purchases.
Rahul Gandhi calls for bribery inquiry into India prime minister Narendra Modi
23 December 2016
Read: 1173
Rahul Gandhi has demanded an investigation into allegations that two Indian conglomerates paid millions of rupees in bribes to the prime minister Narendra Modi when he was chief minister of Gujarat.
-1780923278.jpg&h=190&w=280&zc=1&q=100)
