BSP’s Money is Honest, BJP Maligning Us: Mayawati in Lucknow

The accounts in the Karol Bagh branch of the UBI were flagged for recording high cash deposits after the note ban.

Bahujan Samajwadi Party chief Mayawati. (Photo: PTI)

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday detected cash deposits amounting to over Rs 104 crore in an account belonging to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

The ED also flagged deposits of Rs 1.43 crore in an account belonging to party chief Mayawati's brother Anand in a branch of the United Bank of India.

Mayawati Lashes Out

Mayawati lashed out at the BJP over the allegations. She accused the ruling party of misusing state machinery to malign her party.

BJP is misusing the state machinery to malign the name of BSP party. BSP has followed its own rules and routinely deposited all its funds into the bank. BJP has used its own channels, newspapers to hype up the amount of cash deposited by BSP.

Maywati

Officials said the ED had found the deposits – in the Karol Bagh branch of the UBI – during a routine survey and enquiry operations to check suspicious and huge cash deposits.

Maywati said that the money belongs to the party and has been accounted for down to the last rupee.

Along with BJP, several parties deposited their money into the banks yet they are not being scrutinised in the same manner. If the Prime Minister is honest then why does he not declare his party’s assets of the 10 months preceding 8 November and the assets since them.

When asked about her brother, she said he runs a small business and had deposited money into his bank account as per the IT norms.

“After I exposed the conspiracy of BJP in forcing an alliance between SP and Congress yesterday, BJP was taken aback and out of sheer frustration it indulged in such a petty act against BSP and family members of the party chief,” she said.

BJP was perturbed by the fact that if other parties had not raised the demonetisation issue then the other parties would have been stifled by them.

Mayawati also said that the BJP’s actions were a “good omen” for the BJP. She said that in 2007, she won absolute majority in the UP assembly after the BJP government had raked up the Taj corridor issue.

If Modi and central government take a few more decisions like note ban, it will make our return to power in UP easier... they will pave our way for an easy victory and I will not have to toil much. I want to thank them for it.

Deposits in Old Notes

According to reports, ED sleuths called for the records of the deposits made in the BSP account and found that while Rs 102 crore was deposited in Rs 1,000 notes, the remaining Rs 3 crore was deposited in old Rs 500 notes.

Officials said they were were astonished to find huge deposits of Rs 15-17 crore being made every other day.

Officials said a sum of Rs 18.98 lakh was deposited in old notes into Anand’s bank account after the note ban announcement. 

The ED has sought full details about both accounts from the bank even as it is understood that the agency will write to the Income Tax department which has the powers to go into the legality of donations and contributions made to political parties.

The ED has also asked the bank to provide the CCTV footage and the KYC documents used to open the accounts.

The agency plans to issue notices to Anand and to intimate I-T sleuths to investigate him under anti-tax evasion laws.

The agency has been carrying out enquiry operations at over 50 bank branches to check possible instances of hawala dealings and money laundering after the government scrapped the two high value currencies of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 on 8 November.