The BJP claimed on Saturday that corruption is in the DNA of the Congress, linking the party to a contractor whose premises the Income Tax Department reportedly discovered Rs 42 crore in cash during a search operation in Bengaluru, news agency PTI reported. Speaking at a press conference at the BJP headquarters, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said: “We must remember the name of a person, Ambikapathy, the contractor who, on behalf of the Congress, had written to the prime minister in July-August last year labelling the erstwhile BJP government in Karnataka as 40 per cent commission government”.
"A whopping Rs 42 crore has been recovered from the house of Ambikapathy,” Chandrasekhar said, adding: ” Ambikapathy and his group of contractors, acting on behalf of the Congress, had propagated a false narrative of corruption against the BJP, misleading the people in the state.”
He said Ambikapathy was the one who wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July-August last year, describing the previous BJP administration in Karnataka as a "40% commission government" ahead of the state Assembly elections.
"It is clear that this was a massive drama they had orchestrated and behind the drama was a singular objective — corruption," he was quoted by PTI in its report.
"Unfortunately, the voters in Karnataka were misled by this narrative and Congress grabbed power," he added.
The BJP leader's claim comes a day after the Income Tax Department found more than Rs 42 crore in cash concealed in a Bengaluru residential premise on Friday as part of its tax evasion investigations against several Karnataka-based contractors and others related to them.
The searches sparked a political spat between Karnataka's ruling Congress and the BJP, just days before Assembly elections in five states.
"Congress believes in fake guarantees, lies and corruption. Corruption is embedded in the DNA of Congress. We saw this in Karnataka, and now they want to use the same political strategy in Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan," Chandrasekhar alleged.
The Union minister charged that the Congress was using Karnataka as a "ATM to fund elections in other states."
He said: "It's disheartening to see that Karnataka has, in the hands of the chief minister and deputy chief minister, transformed into an ATM for the 'INDI looto yatra'."
"Ambikapathy's case is just the beginning and we believe it represents only the tip of the iceberg. In the coming days, we anticipate that more corrupt contractors and corruption in general will be exposed," he added.