New Delhi: A day after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of receiving Rs.60 crore in funds from one of the prime witnesses in the Delhi excise policy case – Sarath Chandra Reddy, through electoral bonds, Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Sunday raised questions about the relationship between the Reddy and the BJP.
Addressing a press conference here, Bharadwaj said that the BJP has remained silent as to why the party was receiving funds from Reddy, the owner of a well-known pharmaceutical company – Aurobindo Pharma.
On Saturday, the AAP leaders at a press meet showed electoral data documents, which contained the name of the purchaser of the bond, denominations, date of purchase, and other details, and claimed that Reddy’s three companies funnelled nearly ₹60 crore into the BJP accounts.
Bharadwaj said that the AAP has written a letter to BJP national president JP Nadda seeking answers to questions pertaining to the matter.
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“We want to raise three key questions in the case – What is the relationship between Reddy and BJP? Who met him from the (BJP) party and what was their conversation? And why were people, the (Central Bureau of Investigation) CBI and the (Enforcement Directorate) ED not informed about receiving funds from Reddy?” Bhardwaj asked.
Bharadwaj had earlier said that the ED had called Reddy the kingpin of the excise scam and the biggest beneficiary and claimed that arrest of party leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is based on the statement of Reddy.
According to the AAP, Reddy had obtained some liquor shops in certain zones of Delhi under the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy, and he was called in for questioning on November 9, 2022. He was arrested the next day by the ED and after spending a few months in jail, he changed his statement and was granted bail.
In Sunday’s press meet, AAP senior leader Jasmine Shah said that Reddy is the key to the excise policy case. “To make Reddy an approver in the case, he was kept in jail for six months after which he changed his statement. They (BJP) not only made him approver under pressure but also took crores from him,” Shah alleged.
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AAP chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar was also present in the press meet. No immediate reaction was available from the Delhi BJP.
The Election Commission of India on Thursday uploaded the electoral bond data on its website with the latest details submitted by the State Bank of India. While the latest donor list includes the name of the purchaser of the bond, its denomination, and specific number, the recipient list has the name of the party that encashed it, the last four digits of the bank account number of political parties that redeemed the bond and the denomination and the unique number of the bond encashed.
On Friday, ED got a six-day remand of Kejriwal after the agency arrested him on Thursday for his alleged role in the irregularities in the now-scrapped 2021-22 Delhi excise policy. The arrest came after the Delhi high court turned down Kejriwal’s plea for interim protection.
