Come clean on funds: AAP to Cong, BJP

AAP alleged that political parties have become a tool to convert black money into legal currency

Accusing Congress and Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) of getting most of their donations from undisclosed sources, the Aam Admi Party (AAP) on Sunday demanded the parties to come clean on their funds and reveal the names of their donors.

In a letter to both the parties, AAP’s national treasurer Raghav Chadha demanded information about the money deposited by these parties in old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in their respective bank accounts, after the Centre’s demonetisation announcement. The Modi government had recently said that the political parties depositing old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in their accounts will be exempted from income tax, provided the donations taken are below Rs 20,000 per individual.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said parties cannot accept donations in old notes since these bills were junked last month, and clarified that there was no new exemption. The conditional tax exemptions historically given to income of registered political parties continues and no new concession or exemption has been granted either after demonetisation or in the past two-and-a-half years, Jaitley added. Chadha alleged that political parties have become a tool to convert black money into legal currency.

“They (parties) do not give report of donors who pay less than Rs 20,000. Interestingly, your parties are one of those who receive their maximum donation in this form. We demand that names of these donors be made public,” he said, adding that the two parties (Congress, BJP) have also been avoiding to come under the RTI.