Home Ministry has told AAP to give detiails of its foreign funding within 15 days
NEW DELHI:
In what could spark-off another row between the Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP, the Home Ministry has revived a 2013 complaint that accused AAP of receiving foreign funding and sent a notice to the party to get more details about its donors.
The AAP has called the Home Ministry notice a "witch hunt", confident that the party would get a clean chit again this time. Home Ministry sources insist that they did not give any such certificates.
According to the communication sent this week accessed by NDTV, the Home Ministry referred to the AAP's response to its queries on foreign funding in November 2013.
"However, in order to comprehensively re-look and re-appraise the receipts, you are requested to provide (a) detailed reply covering but not limited to the following points," the Home Ministry notice said, citing the party's response received 40 months back.
The six points on which the Home Ministry information includes the source of donation, amount, shareholding pattern of the company which made the donation, foreign equity in the company and every change in the shareholding pattern of the donors.
"We are working (for the people). They (BJP) are doing all this to disrupt our work. They should let us work," said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari responded: "Whoever is being accused should give details about the source of foreign funds. There is no politics in this... It (information) is easy to provide if wanted".
The Home Ministry did tell the Delhi High Court in February 2015 that it had found nothing to establish that the party had illegally accepted foreign funds. In December 2015, the high court closed the petition that sought a full-fledged probe against AAP, saying there was no reason to intervene since the agencies were already on the job.
For the AAP, the Home Ministry move comes at a time when the party is already battling low morale among volunteers after back-to-back setbacks in Delhi municipal elections and the assembly elections in Punjab and Goa where it hoped to come to power in its maiden attempt.
This week, AAP was also on the verge of losing its leader Kumar Vishwas to an internal feud and was able to retain him, only after suspending Okhla legislator Amanatullah Khan from the party.
The AAP has called the Home Ministry notice a "witch hunt", confident that the party would get a clean chit again this time. Home Ministry sources insist that they did not give any such certificates.
According to the communication sent this week accessed by NDTV, the Home Ministry referred to the AAP's response to its queries on foreign funding in November 2013.
"However, in order to comprehensively re-look and re-appraise the receipts, you are requested to provide (a) detailed reply covering but not limited to the following points," the Home Ministry notice said, citing the party's response received 40 months back.
The six points on which the Home Ministry information includes the source of donation, amount, shareholding pattern of the company which made the donation, foreign equity in the company and every change in the shareholding pattern of the donors.
"We are working (for the people). They (BJP) are doing all this to disrupt our work. They should let us work," said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari responded: "Whoever is being accused should give details about the source of foreign funds. There is no politics in this... It (information) is easy to provide if wanted".
The Home Ministry did tell the Delhi High Court in February 2015 that it had found nothing to establish that the party had illegally accepted foreign funds. In December 2015, the high court closed the petition that sought a full-fledged probe against AAP, saying there was no reason to intervene since the agencies were already on the job.
For the AAP, the Home Ministry move comes at a time when the party is already battling low morale among volunteers after back-to-back setbacks in Delhi municipal elections and the assembly elections in Punjab and Goa where it hoped to come to power in its maiden attempt.
This week, AAP was also on the verge of losing its leader Kumar Vishwas to an internal feud and was able to retain him, only after suspending Okhla legislator Amanatullah Khan from the party.
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