Hitting back at the BJP for its accusation against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, AAP leader, and state Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the ‘kingpin’ of the excise policy scam, Sarath Chandra Reddy, bought electoral bonds in favour of the saffron party.
Addressing media persons here on Sunday, Bharadwaj said, “Even after arresting the kingpin of the excise policy scam, the BJP accepted Rs 55-crore donation from him. The BJP leaders, who do seven press conferences on a single day, are mum on this aspect of the episode. Neither Anurag Thakur, Smriti Irani, Manoj Tiwari, nor Virendra Sachdeva spoke about it.”
He alleged that the BJP not only received Rs 55 crore from Sarath Chandra Reddy after his arrest but also encashed the bonds at a time when he was already declared prime accused in the alleged excise policy scam.
“The ED and the Central government themselves accused Reddy in the PMLA case, which means he indulged in money laundering. The BJP took money in donations from the same man whom they called the prime accused in the excise policy case. It’s the same Reddy who the BJP accused of giving Rs 100 crore in bribes to the AAP. This proves that the saffron party has been involved in money laundering through electoral bonds,” added the Delhi Cabinet Minister.
“This is the same person that the BJP accused of money laundering, yet took money from him. I have three questions from the BJP, how does the BJP know Sarath Chandra Reddy? Which BJP leader met him? BJP has taken almost 60 crore in donations from Sharad Chandra Reddy; we want to know why. Why did the BJP not tell this to the ED and CBI,” he asked.