Govt overruled RBI to introduce poll bonds: Cong

New Delhi, November 18

The Congress on Monday alleged that the Modi government had overruled the RBI to introduce electoral bonds to enable “black money to enter the BJP coffers” and demanded that the scheme be scrapped immediately.

Describing it as “opaque” and promoting “money laundering”, the party also demanded that the names of those who bought these bonds be made public and asked what the “quid pro quo” was.

Citing media reports and RTI responses, the Opposition party alleged that the government asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its opinion just days before unveiling electoral bonds, but dismiss its reservations and objections.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleged that electoral bonds were “cleared by bypassing RBI” and “dismissing” national security concerns.

“… while the BJP was elected on the promise of eradicating black money it was busy lining.... its own pockets with exactly that! What a shameful betrayal of the Indian people,” she said on Twitter.

Congress MP Rajeev Gowda termed the electoral bond scheme “fraudulent” and claimed that it eliminates a level-playing field.

“It is a fraud on the people of India. It is a fraud on the electoral process. It brings in opacity and this opacity was objected to by the Election Commission of India. The government brought the scheme as a money Bill so that changes cannot be made in it in the Rajya Sabha,” the Congress MP alleged. — PTI