GUWAHATI: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday described the Supreme Court’s rejection of the State Bank of India’s plea for more time to furnish details on electoral bonds as the “first step in exposing the corruption, scams and shady deals of the Modi government.”
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Earlier in the day a five-judge Constitution bench of the apex court dismissed the State Bank of India's plea for time extension and directed it to furnish the details of electoral bonds to the Election Commission by close of business hours on March 12. The Election Commission will then put up these details on its website by 5 PM on March 15.
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Kharge said after SBI had sought time to furnish the details, it had become clear that the Modi government was trying to cover up its dark deeds.
“With today’s decision of the Honorable Supreme Court, the country will soon know the list of those who donated to BJP through electoral bonds. This is the first step in exposing the corruption, scams and shady deals of the Modi government,” Kharge said in a post written in Hindi on X.
“Even now we will not know for which contracts the selected capitalist fund holders of BJP were given in lieu of donations to the Modi government”, he said adding “For that the Honorable Supreme Court should give appropriate instructions”.
On the other hand, Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, said on X, "The Supreme Court has once again come to protect Indian democracy from the devious machinations of this regime."
"It was laughable for the SBI to seek an extension on a simple one-day job. The fact is that the government is scared of all their skeletons tumbling out of the closet," he said. “This mega corruption scandal, as certified by the Supreme Court, will expose the unholy nexus between the BJP and its corrupt corporate masters,” he said.
The Supreme Court had on February 15 struck down the Centre's electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it "unconstitutional" and ordered disclosure by the Election Commission of donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients by March 13.
However, the SBI moved the top court asking for time till June 30 to furnish such details which the latter on Monday dismissed.
