Opposition attacks government over black money in Lok Sabha

Opposition parties, led by the Congress, Wednesday, tore into the government on the black money issue, asking it to "apologise" to the nation for making false promises of bringing back illegal cash stashed in foreign banks.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had rejected a notice by the Congress party for an adjournment motion on the issue in the morning and had also refused to suspend the Question Hour.

But the matter, which was listed for discussion at the very end was moved up in the list at the urging of the opposition members.

Opening the debate in the Lok Sabha, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said: "You had said that there are 50,000 names (of account holders) and they are not disclosing the names. You had made these allegations".

Kharge said the BJP had questioned the "integrity" of the UPA government on the issue. "But what about your integrity. You have to be accountable today".

"You should apologise to the nation and say that you had made a false promise," he said.

Kharge said that the government had alleged that they (UPA) had covered up the issue. "But what did you do in six months. Are you also covering up"?

The senior Congress leader quoted many BJP leaders, including L.K. Advani, who had during the campaign for the 2014 general elections said NDA government would bring back black money.

He said: "Advaniji had said that if that money is brought back then 6 lakh villages can be electrified and developed. Finance Minister Arun Jaitely had said that the NDA will bring back every rupee of the black money".

Another senior Congress MP, Veerappa Moily, said: "BJP should take a step forward in bringing back black money as in all these months they have moved 100 steps backwards. The prime minister owes an apology to parliament that he failed to bring back black money within 100 days.

Trinamool Congress' Sudip Bandopadhyay said the government should not dilute the demand for black money and be positive.

"Why is the government so much panic-stricken that we (government) cannot fulfill what promise we (government) had made," he said.

"They should either fulfill their promise or apologise to the nation".

However, the BJP used the debate on black money to target the Trinamool Congress over the Saradha scam and alleged that money had also been sent to Bangladesh.

The BJP MP Anurag Thakur targeted Trinamool Congress for its "black umbrella" protest against the government.

Thakur said that an arrested leader of Trinamool Congress had said that "the cream (in Saradha scam) was eaten by big leaders."

"Black money was earned and yesterday (Tuesday) they stood holding black umbrellas. If there has been a big scam, it is Saradha scam," Thakur said.

The BJP MP also attacked the Congress on the issue of black money and alleged that the party-led UPA government had been dragging its feet on constituting a special investigation team.