Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu in Rajya Sabha
On the second day of the ongoing debate on black money in Parliament, senior BJP leader and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the NDA had not promised to bring back black money stashed abroad within 100 days of coming to power - which had been the key charge of the Opposition.
Here are the latest developments in this story:
"We are not so immature to say we will bring back entire black money in 100 days," Mr Venkaiah Naidu said in Lok Sabha, citing the party's manifesto, which mentioned a task force would be set up to deal with the issue. Whenever 100 days is mentioned, it means "action will be initiated within 100 days," he said.
It was former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had first talked about 100 days when he made a statement in Parliament in July 2009, Mr Naidu added.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who replied to the debate in the Lok Sabha, said those pushing for early disclosure of names of account holders "were helping them, as it will alert them". "We have to move carefully," he said.
Some offshore account holders have withdrawn their money, the Finance minister said. "We will try to complete tax assessment of 427 identified account holders in HSBC list by March 31, 2015."
The Samajwadi Party said the government had broken the people's trust. "Youth of the country thought they will get Rs 15 lakh. You sold lies to people. The government has to inform Parliament when they will bring the money back," party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said.
Bhagwant Mann of AAP said the NDA government looks like "UPA 3". They should first clean up their minds before thinking of bringing back black money, he said.
Tariq Anwar of NCP said the government should apologise for not fulfilling its promise of getting back the black money. PM Modi, he said, has changed after becoming the Prime Minister.
Mr Naidu said it was "painful" for him to hear Opposition slogans against the Prime Minister and pointed out that even the Finance Minister of the previous UPA government did not disclose the name of account holders in foreign banks.
Yesterday, in Rajya Sabha, Mr Jaitley had said the government had taken over a "half-done job from the UPA". Still, 427 accounts abroad where black money was stashed has been identified, "250 of the account holders have admitted to having foreign accounts," he said.
The Opposition had launched attack on the government as Parliament opened this week for the Winter Session. It had accused the BJP-led NDA government of reneging on its election promise -- "bringing back black money from abroad in 100 days and distributing Rs 15 lakh to each citizen".
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