The Evening Wrap: Probe agencies ‘misused’ to extort donations for BJP, alleges Congress

The Congress on Friday alleged that probe agencies were “misused” to extort donations for the BJP from private companies and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the matter. Addressing a press conference, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh alleged that at least 30 companies, which donated a total of nearly ₹335 crore to the BJP between financial years 2018-19 and 2022-23, faced action by central agencies during that period. Ramesh said Congress general secretary in-charge organisation K. C. Venugopal on February 23 wrote to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the issue. Ramesh also asked if the government would come up with a “white paper” on the BJP’s finances, not just the sources, but how corporate firms were “coerced” to donate, by misusing investigative agencies against them. “If you have nothing to hide, then are you willing to present a point-by-point rebuttal on the ‘chronology’ of events which led to the filling of BJP’s treasury,” he asked. “If you are unwilling to come up with a factual explanation, then are you willing to present yourself for a Supreme Court-monitored investigation in these dubious deals to loot donation for the BJP?” Ramesh said. He said a Supreme Court-monitored probe is needed in this matter. Ramesh said these three questions have been asked in the letter written by Congress general secretary, organisation, K. C. Venugopal, to Sitharaman. In his letter to Sitharaman, Venugopal said media reports have exposed the alleged “quid-pro-quo between BJP and several firms, which in a strange coincidence donated to it, after the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax Department (IT) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and others, raided or searched those enterprises”. “The news report is authenticated by several Election Commission documents regarding donation and other robust evidence. It raises serious questions about the institutional independence, autonomy, and the professionalism of the Central agencies IT, ED, CBI,” Venugopal said in his letter to the Finance Minister. “Two of the three agencies come under the jurisdiction of the Finance Ministry. The entire nation knows how investigative agencies are being remote controlled by your government. This has been testified by a four-fold increase in ED cases against politicians since 2014, and 95% of the cases are against Opposition leaders,” Venugopal said. Of the 30 firms, 23 companies, which gave a total of ₹187.58 crore to the BJP during this period, had never donated any amount to the BJP between 2014 and the year of the raid, Venugopal said. “At least four of these companies donated a total of ₹9.05 crore within four months of the central agency visit,” the Congress leader said in his letter. At least six of these firms, which were already donors to the BJP, handed out a heftier amount in the months following the searches, he alleged. Six other firms, which had donated to the BJP each year before, faced central action after they skipped donations in one financial year, Venugopal alleged. “The above instances seem to be a clear-cut case of legal extortion in the form of donations to the ruling party, by exerting pressure on investigative agencies,” the letter said. “Certainly, these are not the only cases where such modus operandi of alleged extortion has taken place. This looks like the tip of the iceberg,” it said. “We are nowhere alleging that the cases filed, or the action taken by the investigating agencies are illegal, but it does warrant an investigation, on why these ‘dubious’ firms who have ED cases against them are donating to the ruling party BJP, despite ED investigation against them,” the party said. “Is it a mere coincidence that they are donating to the BJP, after ED action,” it asked. “Narendra Modi often refers to our country as ‘Mother of Democracy’. Is extortion and blackmail to force fund the ruling party by weakening autonomous investigative agencies, part of ‘Mother of Democracy’? Does looting the donation of the principal opposition party, through trivial Income Tax notices, part of ‘Mother of Democracy’?” Venugopal said in his letter. “We are going to the courts of law and to the court of people. We will defeat you on both sides,” he said. Ramesh said the BJP-led Centre is taking ‘notebandi’ forward by running this campaign of ‘khata bandi’ against the Congress. “We are fighting in appellate tribunal and if needed we will go to the judiciary,” he said. SC directs publication of final orders of panel reviewing ‘proportionality’ of Internet suspensions in J&K The Supreme Court ordered the government on Friday to publish the final decisions of the committee which reviews Internet suspension orders in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. A three-judge Bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai however agreed with the government that the internal deliberations of the review process need not be made public. The court did not delve on whether the reasons or findings of the review committee need to be published. The Bench said it was for an individual petitioner to raise the plea in the appropriate forum or court that non-existence of reasons, if any, in a final review order affected their right to challenge. “We are not going into that aspect,” Justice Gavai remarked. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the government, said the review process was an “internal check” into the proportionality of the temporary suspension orders. The hearing was based on a miscellaneous application filed by the Foundation for Media Professionals seeking compliance with a Supreme Court judgment in the Anuradha Bhasin case in January 2020. The judgment had found indefinite suspension of Internet and telecom services “impermissible”. The court had laid down interim procedural safeguards to ensure that authorities did not misuse its powers under the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Service) Rules, 2017 in the Valley. It had said the review committee constituted under Rule 2(5) of the Suspension Rules must conduct a periodic review within seven working days of the previous review. Under Rule 2(5), the review committee would consist of the Chief Secretary­; Secretary Law or Legal Remembrancer In­Charge, Legal Affairs­; and Secretary to the State government (other than the Home Secretary). “The review committee must therefore not only look into the question of whether the restrictions are still in compliance with the requirements of Section 5(2) of the Telegraph Act, but must also look into the question of whether the orders are still proportionate, keeping in mind the constitutional consequences,” the judgment had said. The judgment had directed the authorities to publish “all orders in force and any future orders under Section 144, Cr.P.C and for suspension of telecom services, including Internet, to enable the affected persons to challenge it before the High Court or appropriate forum”. On Friday, Mehta said the government was under the impression that only the suspension orders were required to be published in view of the 2020 judgment, and not the review orders. Agreeing with the court that the review of the suspension order was not meant as an “empty formality”, the top law officer said the government was under the impression that the “order of Internet suspension is to be uploaded and the internal check is not to be made public”. Appearing for the applicant, advocate Shadan Farasat submitted that other States like Arunachal, Assam, Bihar, Maharashtra, Meghalaya and Punjab publish their review orders. “All the other States, including the border States, are publishing… I am surprised why Jammu and Kashmir is resisting it,” Farasat submitted. Mehta said the government had no objections publishing the review orders if the court wanted it to do so. He wondered why the applicant was intent on Jammu and Kashmir. “All the other States are publishing, and we are only required to go into the legal question,” Justice Gavai responded. “If Your Lordships want, we will publish,” Mehta acquiesced. Y.S. Sharmila says Congress and Left parties will fight elections together in Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Y.S. Sharmila Reddy on Friday said to take the party’s fight for justice to the people of the State to its logical end, it was forming an alliance with the Left parties in the forthcoming elections. Addressing a joint press conference after holding talks with delegations of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India- (Marxist) at Andhra Ratna Bhavan, she said people of the State were betrayed by the TDP and the YSR Congress party, as both the regional parties were vying with each other to appease the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. The Congress president said there was a need to fight tooth and nail the anti-people policies of the BJP at the Centre and the YCP in the State and that the Congress had joined hands with the Communist parties to defeat “such evil forces.” Sharmila said she had extended invitation to the Left parties for the public meeting to be addressed by the AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge at Anantapur on February 26 and informed that key aspects like seat-sharing in the ensuing elections were being discussed and that “a clarity on the issue would emerge soon.” Responding to the Mangalagiri MLA Alla Ramakrishna returning to YCP, she said “he is someone very close to me and that I wish him happiness and prosperity wherever he is. As a sister, I can understand the tremendous pressure he is facing from the ruling party. He is a good person but in the wrong party,” she said. CPI (M) State secretary V. Srinivasa Rao said the BJP, which did not have even 1 % vote share in the State, was indirectly ruling over people of Andhra Pradesh, thanks to the inefficiency of the TDP and YSRCP. He alleged that the “Jagan-Babu-Pawan” trio was playing into the hands of the BJP and that it had compromised the interests of the people of Andhra Pradesh to the Centre. He accused the YSR Congress president Jagan Mohan Reddy of pushing Andhra Pradesh into a state of bankruptcy by resorting to indiscriminate borrowings without sparing a thought for people’s financial problems. Delhi HC dismisses TMC leader Mahua Moitra’s plea alleging media leakage from ED The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra’s plea against the alleged leakage of “confidential” information from the ED to the media in relation to a probe against her under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). “Dismissed,” said Justice Subramonium Prasad while pronouncing the verdict. Moitra had sought a direction to restrain the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from “leaking any information, including any confidential, sensitive, unverified/unconfirmed information, to the print/electronic media in relation to the ongoing investigation”. She had also sought a direction to restrain several media organisations from “leaking, publishing/broadcasting of any information related to the ongoing investigation/proceedings in relation to the investigation being carried out by Respondent No.1 (ED)... under which a FEMA summons has been issued to the petitioner”. A detailed copy of the court’s decision is awaited. The senior counsel appearing in the court on behalf of the former MP earlier claimed that Moitra was being “hounded” and information on the issuance of the summons to her by the federal agency was published by the media even before she received it. The ED had issued the summons to Moitra in a case lodged under the FEMA. Transactions linked to a non-resident external (NRE) account are under the agency’s scanner in the case, apart from a few other foreign remittances and transfer of funds, sources said. In her petition, Moitra had said the “leakages” to the media of confidential information regarding the investigation was causing a grave and prejudicial impact on her right to a free-and-fair investigation. In brief Former Maharashtra CM and ex-Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, who counted among Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray’s most trusted aides, passed away early Friday, aged 86. The ailing Joshi breathed his last at around 3 a.m. at Mumbai’s Hinduja Hospital following a cardiac arrest, said sources. One of the most recognizable faces of the Shiv Sena during its formative years, Joshi became the Chief Minister of a non-Congress government for the first time in Maharashtra after the undivided Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ‘Mahayuti’ coalition came to power in 1995. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 23 February 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Probe agencies ‘misused’ to extort donations for BJP, SC-monitored probe needed: Congress The Congress on Friday [alleged that probe agencies were “misused” to extort donations for the BJP]( from private companies and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the matter. Addressing a press conference, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh alleged that at least 30 companies, which donated a total of nearly ₹335 crore to the BJP between financial years 2018-19 and 2022-23, faced action by central agencies during that period. Ramesh said Congress general secretary in-charge organisation K. C. Venugopal on February 23 wrote to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the issue. Ramesh also asked if the government would come up with a “white paper” on the BJP’s finances, not just the sources, but how corporate firms were “coerced” to donate, by misusing investigative agencies against them. “If you have nothing to hide, then are you willing to present a point-by-point rebuttal on the ‘chronology’ of events which led to the filling of BJP’s treasury,” he asked. “If you are unwilling to come up with a factual explanation, then are you willing to present yourself for a Supreme Court-monitored investigation in these dubious deals to loot donation for the BJP?” Ramesh said. He said a Supreme Court-monitored probe is needed in this matter. Ramesh said these three questions have been asked in the letter written by Congress general secretary, organisation, K. C. Venugopal, to Sitharaman. In his letter to Sitharaman, Venugopal said media reports have exposed the alleged “quid-pro-quo between BJP and several firms, which in a strange coincidence donated to it, after the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax Department (IT) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and others, raided or searched those enterprises”. “The news report is authenticated by several Election Commission documents regarding donation and other robust evidence. It raises serious questions about the institutional independence, autonomy, and the professionalism of the Central agencies IT, ED, CBI,” Venugopal said in his letter to the Finance Minister. “Two of the three agencies come under the jurisdiction of the Finance Ministry. The entire nation knows how investigative agencies are being remote controlled by your government. This has been testified by a four-fold increase in ED cases against politicians since 2014, and 95% of the cases are against Opposition leaders,” Venugopal said. Of the 30 firms, 23 companies, which gave a total of ₹187.58 crore to the BJP during this period, had never donated any amount to the BJP between 2014 and the year of the raid, Venugopal said. “At least four of these companies donated a total of ₹9.05 crore within four months of the central agency visit,” the Congress leader said in his letter. At least six of these firms, which were already donors to the BJP, handed out a heftier amount in the months following the searches, he alleged. Six other firms, which had donated to the BJP each year before, faced central action after they skipped donations in one financial year, Venugopal alleged. “The above instances seem to be a clear-cut case of legal extortion in the form of donations to the ruling party, by exerting pressure on investigative agencies,” the letter said. “Certainly, these are not the only cases where such modus operandi of alleged extortion has taken place. This looks like the tip of the iceberg,” it said. “We are nowhere alleging that the cases filed, or the action taken by the investigating agencies are illegal, but it does warrant an investigation, on why these ‘dubious’ firms who have ED cases against them are donating to the ruling party BJP, despite ED investigation against them,” the party said. “Is it a mere coincidence that they are donating to the BJP, after ED action,” it asked. “Narendra Modi often refers to our country as ‘Mother of Democracy’. Is extortion and blackmail to force fund the ruling party by weakening autonomous investigative agencies, part of ‘Mother of Democracy’? Does looting the donation of the principal opposition party, through trivial Income Tax notices, part of ‘Mother of Democracy’?” Venugopal said in his letter. “We are going to the courts of law and to the court of people. We will defeat you on both sides,” he said. Ramesh said the BJP-led Centre is taking ‘notebandi’ forward by running this campaign of ‘khata bandi’ against the Congress. “We are fighting in appellate tribunal and if needed we will go to the judiciary,” he said. SC directs publication of final orders of panel reviewing ‘proportionality’ of Internet suspensions in J&K The Supreme Court [ordered the government on Friday to publish]( the final decisions of the committee which reviews Internet suspension orders in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. A three-judge Bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai however agreed with the government that the internal deliberations of the review process need not be made public. The court did not delve on whether the reasons or findings of the review committee need to be published. The Bench said it was for an individual petitioner to raise the plea in the appropriate forum or court that non-existence of reasons, if any, in a final review order affected their right to challenge. “We are not going into that aspect,” Justice Gavai remarked. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the government, said the review process was an “internal check” into the proportionality of the temporary suspension orders. The hearing was based on a miscellaneous application filed by the Foundation for Media Professionals seeking compliance with a Supreme Court judgment in the Anuradha Bhasin case in January 2020. The judgment had found indefinite suspension of Internet and telecom services “impermissible”. The court had laid down interim procedural safeguards to ensure that authorities did not misuse its powers under the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Service) Rules, 2017 in the Valley. It had said the review committee constituted under Rule 2(5) of the Suspension Rules must conduct a periodic review within seven working days of the previous review. Under Rule 2(5), the review committee would consist of the Chief Secretary­; Secretary Law or Legal Remembrancer In­Charge, Legal Affairs­; and Secretary to the State government (other than the Home Secretary). “The review committee must therefore not only look into the question of whether the restrictions are still in compliance with the requirements of Section 5(2) of the Telegraph Act, but must also look into the question of whether the orders are still proportionate, keeping in mind the constitutional consequences,” the judgment had said. The judgment had directed the authorities to publish “all orders in force and any future orders under Section 144, Cr.P.C and for suspension of telecom services, including Internet, to enable the affected persons to challenge it before the High Court or appropriate forum”. On Friday, Mehta said the government was under the impression that only the suspension orders were required to be published in view of the 2020 judgment, and not the review orders. Agreeing with the court that the review of the suspension order was not meant as an “empty formality”, the top law officer said the government was under the impression that the “order of Internet suspension is to be uploaded and the internal check is not to be made public”. Appearing for the applicant, advocate Shadan Farasat submitted that other States like Arunachal, Assam, Bihar, Maharashtra, Meghalaya and Punjab publish their review orders. “All the other States, including the border States, are publishing… I am surprised why Jammu and Kashmir is resisting it,” Farasat submitted. Mehta said the government had no objections publishing the review orders if the court wanted it to do so. He wondered why the applicant was intent on Jammu and Kashmir. “All the other States are publishing, and we are only required to go into the legal question,” Justice Gavai responded. “If Your Lordships want, we will publish,” Mehta acquiesced. Y.S. Sharmila says Congress and Left parties will fight elections together in Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Y.S. Sharmila Reddy on Friday said to take the party’s fight for justice to the people of the State to its logical end, it was [forming an alliance with the Left parties]( in the forthcoming elections. Addressing a joint press conference after holding talks with delegations of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India- (Marxist) at Andhra Ratna Bhavan, she said people of the State were betrayed by the TDP and the YSR Congress party, as both the regional parties were vying with each other to appease the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. The Congress president said there was a need to fight tooth and nail the anti-people policies of the BJP at the Centre and the YCP in the State and that the Congress had joined hands with the Communist parties to defeat “such evil forces.” Sharmila said she had extended invitation to the Left parties for the public meeting to be addressed by the AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge at Anantapur on February 26 and informed that key aspects like seat-sharing in the ensuing elections were being discussed and that “a clarity on the issue would emerge soon.” Responding to the Mangalagiri MLA Alla Ramakrishna returning to YCP, she said “he is someone very close to me and that I wish him happiness and prosperity wherever he is. As a sister, I can understand the tremendous pressure he is facing from the ruling party. He is a good person but in the wrong party,” she said. CPI (M) State secretary V. Srinivasa Rao said the BJP, which did not have even 1 % vote share in the State, was indirectly ruling over people of Andhra Pradesh, thanks to the inefficiency of the TDP and YSRCP. He alleged that the “Jagan-Babu-Pawan” trio was playing into the hands of the BJP and that it had compromised the interests of the people of Andhra Pradesh to the Centre. He accused the YSR Congress president Jagan Mohan Reddy of pushing Andhra Pradesh into a state of bankruptcy by resorting to indiscriminate borrowings without sparing a thought for people’s financial problems. Delhi HC dismisses TMC leader Mahua Moitra’s plea alleging media leakage from ED The [Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra’s plea]( against the alleged leakage of “confidential” information from the ED to the media in relation to a probe against her under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). “Dismissed,” said Justice Subramonium Prasad while pronouncing the verdict. Moitra had sought a direction to restrain the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from “leaking any information, including any confidential, sensitive, unverified/unconfirmed information, to the print/electronic media in relation to the ongoing investigation”. She had also sought a direction to restrain several media organisations from “leaking, publishing/broadcasting of any information related to the ongoing investigation/proceedings in relation to the investigation being carried out by Respondent No.1 (ED) ... under which a FEMA summons has been issued to the petitioner”. A detailed copy of the court’s decision is awaited. The senior counsel appearing in the court on behalf of the former MP earlier claimed that Moitra was being “hounded” and information on the issuance of the summons to her by the federal agency was published by the media even before she received it. The ED had issued the summons to Moitra in a case lodged under the FEMA. Transactions linked to a non-resident external (NRE) account are under the agency’s scanner in the case, apart from a few other foreign remittances and transfer of funds, sources said. In her petition, Moitra had said the “leakages” to the media of confidential information regarding the investigation was causing a grave and prejudicial impact on her right to a free-and-fair investigation. In brief Former Maharashtra CM and ex-Lok Sabha Speaker [Manohar Joshi, who counted among Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray’s most trusted aides, passed away early Friday]( aged 86. The ailing Joshi breathed his last at around 3 a.m. at Mumbai’s Hinduja Hospital following a cardiac arrest, said sources. One of the most recognizable faces of the Shiv Sena during its formative years, Joshi became the Chief Minister of a non-Congress government for the first time in Maharashtra after the undivided Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ‘Mahayuti’ coalition came to power in 1995. 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