Congress is scared of us, Arvind Kejriwal said. (File pic)
Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde today said his ministry is probing the source of foreign funding received by Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party.
"Whatever the source of funding is, which country it is coming from, to probe this we have given it to the ministry. We had got complaints about foreign funding and we are investigating," Mr Shinde said.
Arwind Kejriwal shot back saying, "The Congress is scared of AAP. Let them probe us. Finish a probe in 48 hours. But let them also probe how Congress got funds worth Rs 2000 crore. Let them also investigate the BJP's funding." The AAP alleges that it is being targeted as opinion polls have predicted better prospects for the first-timers than earlier believed.
The Home Ministry's move comes after the Delhi High Court last month, based on a Public Interest Litigation or PIL, asked the Centre to look into the accounts of AAP and submit a report by December 10.
According to reports, Mr Kejriwal's fledgling outfit claims to have collected around Rs 19 crore as donation from 63,000 people, ranging from rickshaw pullers, to traders, industrialists and overseas Indians.
A political blame game began following Mr Shinde's remarks.
The BJP's Subramanian Swamy said, "My own feeling is that Kejriwal's funding is quite dubious. He tells that BJP and Congress are corrupt but what about AAP? He must prove himself that he is clean."
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said, "We got gold packets from AAP, which had golden wraps and fancy hand bangs. It must have cost Rs 200 each for just the packet."
The Aam Aadmi Party has so far fended off the criticism by saying that their donations are detailed on their website and every rupee is accounted for.
Interestingly, the Aam Aadmi Party is not the only one facing questions on foreign funding. In August this year, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) filed an affidavit before the Delhi High Court alleging that the Congress and the BJP have for years been receiving donations to the tune of tens of crores from foreign companies through their Indian subsidiaries.