"If You Are A Small Shopkeeper...": BJP Amid Row Over Sam Pitroda Remarks

After the Congress party distanced itself from the remarks made by Sam Pitroda on the inheritance tax, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Wednesday said the opposition party can issue thousands of clarifications but their dubious gameplan has been disclosed by Mr Pitroda.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Shehzad Poonawalla said, "Congress can give a thousand clarifications, but the truth has been disclosed by Uncle Sam. He is not some small leader, he is the closest confidante of the first family of Congress. Is he not there in every foreign tour of Rahul Gandhi? What he has said today, has been prescribed by Congress in 2012."

Mr Poonawalla said that voting for Congress means losing "55 per cent of your land holding" to a particular vote bank".

"If you are a small shopkeeper, Congress will take away 55 per cent of your shop. If you are a small household, Congress will come and take away your savings while you are on a deathbed. Congress' model is 'Loot karo, zindagi ke sath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi' (Loot, during the life and afterwards) and Congress cannot run away, because their entire dubious gameplan has now been disclosed," he said.

After the comments snowballed into a controversy Mr Pitroda sought to downplay the issue saying he had only cited inheritance tax in the US as an example. Congress has also officially distanced itself from Mr Pitroda's comments saying that they did not reflect the view of the party at all times.

"Who said 55 per cent will be taken away? Who said something like this should be done in India? Why are BJP and the media in panic? I mentioned US inheritance tax in the US only as an example in my normal conversation on TV. Can I not mention facts? I said these are the kind of issues people will have to discuss and debate. This has nothing to do with the policy of any party including Congress," Mr Pitroda said in his post on X.

Meanwhile, Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge said that the BJP is more concerned about concentrating wealth in a couple of industrialists' hands.

"I think what Sam Pitroda is trying to say is that the distribution of wealth should be equitable. The current regime is more concerned about concentrating wealth in a couple of industrialists' hands. Whereas we are concerned about distributing wealth to the marginalised people of society, irrespective of their caste or community. The idea is to empower people at the bottom of the pyramid to ensure that we have an equitable society - both socially and economically," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the remarks made by Congress' Sam Pitroda advocating an 'inheritance tax' like law saying that the Congress does not want the countrymen to pass on their property to their children.

"The royal family's prince's advisor has said that more taxes should be imposed on the middle class. Now these people have gone one step further than this, Congress says that it will impose an Inheritance Tax, and it will also impose tax on the inheritance received from parents. The property you have accumulated through your hard work will not be given to your children," the Prime Minister said at an election rally in Surguja.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)