 "Black Money trail: Political parties ask Centre to comply with SC order on black money")
In Ahmedabad, Gujarat Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela demanded the NDA government come out with a ‘White Paper’ on black money. “It seems a majority of account holders have a BJP connection. That is why the government has declared only three names,” he said.
Vaghela, a former chief minister of Gujarat, questioned the silence of Yoga guru Ramdev, who had aggressively taken up the issue of black money, on the matter. “Why is Baba Ramdev, who supported the BJP in its movement against black money, silent now? I want the government to declare names of all those (having illegal bank accounts), irrespective of their connection with the BJP or Congress,” Vaghela said. He asked the Narendra Modi-led government to implement BJP's pre-poll promise of distributing black money brought from foreign countries among the citizens.
Nationalist Congress Party leader D P Tripathi said the Centre now has little option but to comply with the apex court’s order. “The names will be out tomorrow (on Wednesday),” he said.
In New Delhi, Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken reminded the BJP of its poll promises on the issue. “In five months, they (the government) could only disclose three names by means of an affidavit before the court. (Home Minister) Rajnath Singh had said they will bring back all the black money in 100 days. We want those promises fulfilled,” Maken said. Congress leader Manish Tewari said BJP kept saying the moment they form a government they will disclose the names. “Now that they are in the government, what is stopping them from doing so,” Tewari asked.
AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal filed an intervention application in the black money case in the SC on Tuesday. The application had names of some prominent industrialists who, according to Kejriwal, have accounts in foreign banks with illegal money. The AAP leader said the details, which he had made public in a press conference in 2012, were given to him by a whistleblower and were also in the possession of the Income-Tax department. “All transactions of the accounts should be looked into because other accounts will emerge that way,” he said.
BJP Secretary Shrikant Sharma said the NDA government was very serious about the getting back black money. “The government is not hiding anything or anyone from the court,” he said. Samajwadi Party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia berated the government for not having already submitted the names of those with black money stashed in foreign banks.
Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi said the Centre had no reluctance in sharing any name with the SC, but confidentiality clauses should be honoured and names not disclosed in the public domain until the status of the accounts are confirmed.