New Delhi: With just hours left for the Maharashtra assembly election, the Congress on Tuesday accused the BJP of influencing voters by openly distributing money.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, “Vinod Tawde, who happens to be the national general secretary of BJP, has been caught red-handed while distributing money to the voters and this is an insult to the self-respecting people of Maharashtra and a disregard for their right to vote”.
After running a short video of the alleged incident, Shrinate said, “Vinod Tawde, had come to distribute money openly and Rs five crore in cash was recovered from him. Along with this, a diary has also been found with him, which contains the accounts of Rs 15 crore”.
She alleged that while bags and helicopters of Opposition leaders during election campaign were being checked, but leaders of the ruling party were ‘roaming around carrying bags.
The CAG has the responsibility for auditing and making the state and the central govt and enterprises accountable for every penny they spend or earn.
The present CAG has been quiet and has gone into a slumber for the past 10 years. They have even refused to audit the PM CARES… pic.twitter.com/WmteebrmRG
While raising question on the distribution of cash just few hours before the elections, the party spokesperson asked “what was Vinod Tawde doing in Virar East?”, when the rule says that after the election campaign ends, no one can stay in another constituency.
The senior party leader also alleged that power and resources were being blatantly misused in the Maharashtra elections, where now the BJP general secretary was caught red-handed doing so.
“We have seen the BJP, its allies and the 'Mahajhoothi ??Sarkar' misusing power and resources throughout the elections in Maharashtra,” Shrinate alleged.
Moreover, the Congress also accused the CAG of going into a slumber for the past 10 years and becoming an organisation, that was working at the behest of the government.
Shrinate alleged, “On 9 October 2023, the CAG instructed Maharashtra to stop the audit consisting of -- performance audit, state-specific compliance audit and thematic audit”.
She further said that the CAG has denied the 13 crore people of Maharashtra their right to know about the money spent on projects and the irregularities and the scams that took place.
