The Congress candidate from Pauri has alleged that he and his wife have been asked by the Income Tax Department to be present at its Thane based office in Mumbai on March 22.
Photo:@UKGaneshGodiyal
Congress candidate from Pauri Garhwal parliamentary constituency in Uttarakhand Ganesh Godiyal has alleged that I-T Department has served notices about his business activites in Mumbai to sabotage his campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections.
Godiyal is contesting against BJP national spokesperson Anil Baluni, who is considered to be close to Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
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The Congress candidate from Pauri has alleged that he and his wife have been asked by the Income Tax Department to be present at its Thane based office in Mumbai on March 22.
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Godiyal said: “I-T served three notices to me and my wife on March 19, ordering to be present at its office in Thane on March 22. It is an attempt to sabotage my poll campaign. A similar notice was served to my Mumbai based firm in 2018 but nothing came out in the probe.”
“It’s a deliberate move by the Central government to impede my election campaign. BJP’s state leadership has seen its defeat in Garhwal and now they are misusing central agency to discourage Congress from contesting elections.”
Godiyal alleged: “It is yet another low by the Central government in subverting basic norms of democracy. The BJP has resorted to cheap means to discourage opposition through central agencies but we are followers of Bhagat Singh and will not deter by their attrocities.”
Godiyal said: “I haven’t done anything punishabe in my life. They tried to break me away in 2016 as well but failed. BJP may apply all its tricks but we will not desist. They know well that the BJP nominee in Pauri is too weak to win.”
The BJP, on the other hand, said the Congress candidate was trying to get political sympathy from voters as the I-T notices sent to him were pertaining to the cases during the UPA regime at the Centre and the Congress government in Uttarakhand.
“He must have recieved such notices several times but is trying to take political mileage during the election time. Why should he be afraid of when he is not guilty,” said BJP spokesperson Manvir Chauhan.
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