Bengaluru, 15 March

Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday demanded a special investigation into the electoral bonds scheme -- through which the BJP has received Rs 6,060 crore over five years. He demanded the party's bank accounts should be frozen till its completion.

Claiming that there were many dubious donors, he said people who have purchased such bonds were either involved in ED or Income Tax cases, or raided by these agencies.

While BJP has collected crore of rupees in electoral bonds, the bank account of the Congress, which received donations, was frozen, Kharge said. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi says 'Na khaunga, na khane dunga (Will not eat, will not let others eat)', but today it has been exposed by Supreme Court how the BJP has made money out of electoral bonds. SBI data shows BJP got 50 per cent donations and Congress got only 11 per cent," he said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, "Even our voter pattern (percentage) if you see we are nearly one third and rest of the people are two-third including BJP, but in donations they got more than 50 per cent." "Who are they? People who have donated, either they are involved in ED case, Income Tax, or raided by these agencies. Ultimately the government, particularly Modi and his party pressured these people to give more donations to their party. Otherwise this much of a difference cannot be there," he alleged.

Noting that Congress's bank accounts were frozen due to which they cannot be operated, Kharge said, "IT (Income Tax department) was instructed to do this and Rs 300 crore is frozen."

"If the Opposition party's account is frozen, how will they fight the election," Kharge further asked.  "Therefore I demand an inquiry at the highest level and unless the truth comes out, their (BJP) account should also be frozen," he said.

He also alleged that Modi wants to "kill" Opposition parties, as he doesn't want them to thrive in democracy.Asked whether Congress will move Supreme Court to block the BJP's account, Kharge said, "I'm now demanding an inquiry. The next course of action we will take. The Working Committee (of Congress) is going to meet shortly, there I can discuss. I'm not Modi, I have to consult."

Congress Treasurer Ajay Maken said a total 22,217 bonds were issued since the scheme was launched in 2018, but the details on the Election Commission's website are only in respect of 18,871 of them, and those pertaining to the remaining 3,346 are not available, and SBI has not shared them. "These 3,346 bonds, the total amount pertains to is Rs 2,500 crore. So whom the Modi government and the SBI are trying to shield?" he asked.