By IANS
Ahmedabad : The Gujarat unit of the Congress Tuesday alleged that Chief Minister Narendra Modi was “pressurising” industrialists to cough up large sums of money for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) election fund, and urged the Election Commission to monitor this through an “independent agency”.
Arjun Modhwadia, Leader of Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha, alleged that Modi was bent upon collecting millions of rupees for the party fund.
Modhwadia told reporters that in a detailed report to the Commission he had called for an “investigation” into the source of BJP funds and also to “ensure control” over the party’s expenditure.
He said if necessary, the Congress would personally seek an audience with the poll panel and present facts.
Asked whether he had any concrete information with regard to his allegation, Modhwadia said on the basis of reliable information with him “the BJP had prepared a long list of business people from whom funds should be collected”.
He stated that business people who were invited to meet the chief minister had conveyed to Modhwadia in “confidence” what transpired at the meetings.
Modhwadia charged that under Modi’s chief ministership in the last six years, he had resorted to money power to suppress opposition, keep industrialists on his side and the BJP leadership happy.
He said Modi was asking people to give funds either for work done in the past or for action yet to be taken.
“The use of money power, especially at the time of elections, is not at all conducive to the conduct of free and fair polls and it should be the responsibility of the Election Commission to ensure that such unethical and even illegal acts do not influence the elections,” Modhwadia said.