BJP has accused Rajiv Gandhi Foundation of receiving donations from the Chinese embassy in India.
As Congress allegation of the government "surrendering" India to China has intensified, the BJP has hit back with a strong political allegation -- that the Chinese are funding the Congress. The BJP has accused the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation of receiving donations from the Chinese embassy in India. The party alleges that these donations were made in 2005-06.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of the RGF and its board has Dr Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, P Chidambaram and Priyanka Gandhi.
The BJP alleged that according to the annual report of 2005-06, the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation received a donation from the Embassy of the People's Republic of China. The donation was included in the list of general donors.
"Did the then UPA government take a bribe from the Chinese? Is it not true that after taking this donation, the foundation recommended a free trade agreement with China, which was heavily tilted in favour of the Chinese," Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Mr Prasad also accused the then UPA government of not mentioning this donation anywhere in the government records. "The Congress must answer that if they took money from the Chinese embassy, how was this money put to use?" he said.
The BJP also targeted the Gandhi family last week for meeting with Chinese officials and "having a secret pact". The party referred to an image that showed Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in a meeting with Chinese embassy officials in 2008.
It is noteworthy that while in the opposition between 2004-2014, many leaders from the BJP too met with members of the Communist Party of China. A formal meeting between the then party President Rajnath Singh and a delegation of the CPC had even taken place at the BJP headquarters in 2007.
The Congress has hit back at these allegations and called them a diversionary tactic.
The party said the donation being referred to was carried out in a transparent manner and all details are listed out on the website. It is also part of the annual report of the foundation. The Congress said pro-government foundations like the Vivekanand Foundation have also received donations from different sources – this does not imply that they are anti-national.
The BJP has now accused the Congress of quid pro quo and asked them to come clean. In a statement, the party asked the following questions:
"It is time that the Congress party comes clean on the MoU it has with the CCP. A full disclosure of their relations with CCP and on the contents of the MoU is essential for the interest of India, as the Congress party is the largest opposition party in India with governments of its own or in alliance in several states. Curiously, India's trade deficit with China starts to balloon. Overall trade deficit with China increased 33 times, i.e from $1.1 Bn in 2003-04 to $36.2 Bn in 2013-14, under the UPA."