A Kanpur businessman who had hidden 200 crores in cash at his home was drawn today into political wrangling ahead of the Uttar Pradesh election as Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a dig at Akhilesh Yadav and the Samajwadi Party chief clapped back.
PM Modi referred to Akhilesh Yadav's allegation that the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has been piggybacking on his achievements as he linked the Samajwadi Party to the jailed businessman.
"Boxes filled with notes that have come out, I was thinking they (Samajwadi Party) will say that this was also done by us. The people of Kanpur understand business and trade well. Before 2017, the perfume of corruption that they had sprinkled all over Uttar Pradesh is there for everyone to see," the Prime Minister said after inaugurating a metro rail project.
"But now, they are sitting with their mouths shut. They are not coming forward to take credit for the mountain of currency notes seen by the entire country. This is their achievement and their reality. The people of Uttar Pradesh are seeing and understanding everything and hence, they are with those who are working to take the state forward," he said.
PM Modi also said "previous governments" in Uttar Pradesh used to think they had "won a lottery to loot the state for five years, but the double-engine government today is working with honesty and accountability".
Though the Prime Minister did not take names, Union Home Minister Amit Shah was more direct.
"Recently, a perfume businessman from Samajwadi Party was caught. Akhilesh Ji is squirming, asking why we conducted raids. Rs 250 crore were seized from his (Piyush Jain) house. Akhilesh Ji, where did this money come from?" Amit Shah questioned at a public rally in Uttar Pradesh.
AdvertisementAkhilesh Yadav, emphatically denying any links between his party and perfume trader Piyush Jain, sneered that the BJP had got "its own businessman raided by mistake".
He alleged that the call records of the businessman's phone would reveal the names of several BJP leaders who were in touch with him.
Advertisement"By mistake, the BJP got its own businessman raided. Instead of SP leader Pushpraj Jain, it got Piyush Jain raided," the Samajwadi chief told reporters.
Piyush Jain, a perfume trader who supplied to a pan masala brand, was raided over six days by the Income Tax department. The biggest-ever haul of around Rs 200 crore in cash, 23 kg of gold and 250 kg of silver were seized from his home in Kanpur and factory in Kannauj.
