Black money row: Opposition parties credit SC for submission of names

Cutting across party lines, leaders of various political outfits on Wednesday hailed the Supreme Court for pushing the Central Government to submit the names of 627 people, who have allegedly stashed away money in foreign bank accounts.

Taking potshots at the Narendra Modi-led government, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had promised during campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls that they would bring back black money after taking charge at the Centre.

"BJP promised that they will get back black money, but why did they need a prompt from Supreme Court? BJP's hidden agenda is payback time for corporates who supported them during campaigning," he said.

Yechury further asked the government to reveal its plans to bring back black money.

"Now, they should tell their plan of action to bring back the black money," he added.

Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on his part said that it would be wrong for anyone to take credit for the apex court's order.

"Has the BJP even put Rs 55 in the accounts of people they made promises to?" he asked while taking a dig at the government.

Congress leader Manish Tewari echoing similar sentiments said the BJP-led government should recover all the black money and distribute it among the people of the country as they had claimed.

Meanwhile, veteran lawyer Ram Jethmalani said the submission of the names was a great development, and added that the credit goes to the Supreme Court and not to the Finance Ministry or Attorney General.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi earlier today submitted three sets of documents, containing the list of 627 people having illegal accounts in foreign banks, to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover.

The government also submitted a status report in a sealed cover.

The apex court said only SIT chairman and vice chairman can open the seal and asked the investigating agency to submit the status report of its probe by November-end. The apex court allowed the Centre to put forth its grievances regarding various treaties with foreign countries before the SIT.

The Supreme Court had earlier on Tuesday reprimanded the Centre after the latter released the names of just three account holders on Monday and asked it to release the names of all the people who have stashed away black money in foreign banks.