Imphal: The opposition Congress slammed the ruling BJP-led government accusing them of instructing the Income Tax Department to freeze around Rs. 285 crore donated and contributed by grassroots-level workers, the members of parliaments, and members of Legislative assemblies as party funds for fighting elections and other expenditures.
Talking to the newsmen at the Congress Bhavan, Imphal, on Friday Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Keisham Meghachandra said that for the ensuing elections, we are in a tight situation financially.
We are in a state of the situation that our legs and hands are being tightened.
He also stated that the INC bank accounts have been frozen to the tune of around Rs. 285 crore.
In all the 11 bank branches where the Congress has its party accounts, the money cannot be withdrawn.
The party claims it is being hemmed in despite having paid Rs. 115 crore to the Income Tax department for a penalty on late returns filing in Assessment Year 2018-19.
Stating that the BJP alone rules the roosts in the forthcoming battles of ballots, K Meghachandra, who is also a sitting MLA elected from the Wangkhem assembly constituency, condemned the acts of the ruling government.
Notably, Manipur with two Lok Sabha seats will go to the polls on April 19 and April 26.
Meanwhile, former Manipur chief minister and opposition leader Okram Ibobi Singh, while talking to the media alleged that the acts of the ruling government are the trampling of democracy in a country where Prime Minister Modi stated that India is the mother of democracy in the world.
O Ibobi further alleged that ‘Democracy is Frozen’ The Congress party said that it had received two notices from the IT department, one for FY 2017-18 and another for FY 1993-94, in a ‘systematic effort’ to deprive the Congress of a level playing field.