‘When govt changes…’: Rahul Gandhi after Rs 1,700 crore fresh I-T notice to Congress

‘When govt changes…’: Rahul Gandhi after Rs 1,700 crore fresh I-T notice to Congress

Hours after the Congress received a fresh notice from the Income Tax department worth Rs 1,700 crore over discrepancies in tax returns for previous years, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Friday targeted the ruling BJP government at the Centre, warning that when the government changes, action will be taken against those who have “destroyed democracy”.

He further stressed that such action will be taken that no one will dare to do all this again.

Earlier, the party had accused the BJP of engaging in ‘tax terrorism’ to cripple Opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. “The BJP is engaged in tax terrorism and efforts are being made to financially cripple the Congress,” Congress’s Jairam Ramesh said during a press conference on Friday.

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Party president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP-led Centre of misusing institutions like the income-tax department, ED and CBI to subvert democracy and belittle the Constitution, and asked why is the I-T department being used as a weapon to harass the principal opposition party. He asserted that such actions would not deter the Congress from contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and vowed that his party will free the country’s institutions from BJP’s “dictatorship”.

The Income Tax department, earlier this week, had served a fresh notice of Rs 1,700 crore to the Congress for discrepancies in tax returns for previous years, the Times of India reported. The tax penalties, along with interest, relate to discrepancies in tax returns for years 2017-18 to 2020-21.

This comes after the I-T department’s notice for “unaccounted transactions” totalling Rs 523.87 crore covering the period 2014-2021. This dealt a blow to the party, which only recently saw the I-T department withdrawing Rs 135 crore from its bank accounts for previous dues. The “unaccounted transactions” of Rs 523.87 crore were traced during I-T raids conducted prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Earlier this month, the Congress party had lost its appeal before the Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) where it had sought a stay on withdrawal of Rs 135 crore from its bank accounts.

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