PM vs Akhilesh Yadav On UP Businessman Who Hid Rs 200 Crore Cash At Home

A Kanpur businessman who had hidden 200 crores inside his home starred in political wrangling today in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah took digs at Akhilesh Yadav and the Samajwadi leader clapped back.

PM Modi linked jailed perfume trader Piyush Jain and his piles of cash to the Samajwadi Party.

"Boxes filled with notes have come out. I was thinking they (Samajwadi Party) will say that this was also done by us. The people of Kanpur understand business and trade well. Before 2017, the perfume of corruption that they had sprinkled all over Uttar Pradesh is there for everyone to see," the Prime Minister said at the inauguration of a metro rail project in Kanpur.

"But now, they are sitting with their mouths shut. They are not coming forward to take credit for the mountain of currency notes seen by the entire country. This is their achievement and their reality," he said.

PM Modi also said "previous governments" in Uttar Pradesh thought they had "won a lottery to loot the state for five years".

The Prime Minister did not take names but Union Home Minister Amit Shah was more direct. He said the A,B,C, D of Samajwadi Party is - "A for 'Apraadh aur Aatank' (crime and terrorism), B is for 'Bhaai-Bhatijaavaad' (nepotism), C for corruption and D for 'Dangaa (riots)'".

"Recently, a perfume businessman from the Samajwadi Party was caught. Akhilesh Ji is squirming, asking why we conducted raids. Rs 250 crore were seized from his (Piyush Jain) house. Akhilesh Ji, where did this money come from?" Amit Shah questioned at a public rally in Uttar Pradesh.

BJP leaders allege that the controversial businessman had launched the "Samajwadi Attar (perfume)" with Akhilesh Yadav's support.

Akhilesh Yadav said the BJP had mixed up Piyush Jain with Samajwadi Party's Pushpraj Jain. Emphatically denying any links with Piyush Jain, he sneered that the BJP had got "its own businessman raided by mistake".

He claimed that the businessman's call records would reveal the names of several BJP leaders who were in touch with him.

"By mistake, the BJP got its own businessman raided. Instead of Samajwadi Party leader Pushpraj Jain, it got Piyush Jain raided," the Samajwadi chief told reporters.

Piyush Jain, who supplied perfume to a pan masala brand, was raided for over six days last week. The raids revealed the biggest-ever haul by customs of around Rs 200 crore in cash, 23 kg of gold, and 250 kg of silver stashed at his home in Kanpur and factory in Kannauj.