By Sandeep Pouranik
Bhopal, Dec 22 (IANS): A report by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) after the revelations in the income tax raids during the Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh has left both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a fix as it includes names of several leaders from both the parties.
The Income Tax Department conducted several raids in Madhya Pradesh during the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. Many important documents were recovered from the close aides of former Chief Minister Kamal Nath along with transactions worth several crores of rupees.
The documents also revealed that funds, through the hawala channel, were utilised to build the headquarters of a political party. Following the raids, the CBDT prepared a report in this case, on the basis of which the Election Commission directed to register an FIR against four senior officials of the state.
Sources said the CBDT report has names of more than 50 MLAs, including several ministers of the then Kamal Nath government, and two ministers and 11 MLAs of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. It also includes names of those MLAs and ministers who left the Congress and joined the BJP along with Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Sources also said that former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh has been named in the CBDT report.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the law will do its job no matter how powerful the people are while Digvijaya Singh questioned the probe, saying "what kind of investigation is this where I have not been given a single notice to record my statement".
Senior Congress leader K.K. Mishra said, "It is a conspiracy to defame Kamal Nath. Nothing was found in the income tax raids. Two Scindia supporters, who are ministers in Shivraj Singh Chouhan's government, and several MLAs have also been named in the CBDT report. Will an FIR be filed against them too or have they now become corruption-free?"
Political experts said that Shivraj Singh Chouhan is on the backfoot as the CBDT has named MLAs from both parties. If the government goes ahead on the basis of this report, then it might affect its ministers also, which is why the party is in a fix. However, the government can also pressurise Scindia as the report also names those who had left the Congress and joined the BJP.