Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday asked the students at the Indian Institute of Technology, Dhanbad to make a machine that can count currency notes at a faster rate. The VP's remark came as veiled dig at Congress MP Dhiraj Sahu after the Income Tax department recovered "highest-ever" amount of cash during a raid at an Odisha-based distillery linked to him.
"I urge all of you... Let's invent a machine that can count currency notes at a fast rate," said Dhankhar while addressing the annual convocation of IIT (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad.
The Congress MP has been embroiled in the row after the Income Tax department 's searches against Boudh Distillery Private Limited owned by the Congress MP's family has been calculated at Rs 351 crore and is said to be the "highest-ever" haul in a single action by any probe agency in the country.
While Congress has distanced itself from the controversy, the Bharatiya Janata Party scouted the matter to launch attack on the grand ild party.
On Monday, the issue was raked up by the BJP MPs in Lok Sabha.
BJP MP from Ranchi Sanjay Seth, raised the issue during the Zero Hour, seeking a reply from the Congress while several other MPs from the saffron party sitting next to him displayed newspapers with reports of the recovery of cash to drive home their point.
Rajendra Agrawal, who was chairing the proceedings, urged members not to name the Rajya Sabha member and asked them to put down the newspapers.
The Congress has maintained that the isue has nothing to do with the party. "The Indian National Congress is in no way connected with the businesses of Dheeraj Sahu, MP. Only he can explain, and should explain, how huge amounts of cash have been reportedly unearthed by the income-tax authorities from his properties," AICC general secretary Communications Jairam Ramesh had said in a post on X last week.