A tweet by Sudhir Chaudhary claims that several union ministries donated sums to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation
Bengaluru: The Union home ministry has formed an inter-ministerial committee to coordinate investigations into alleged violation of various legal provisions of PMLA, Income Tax Act, FCRA and others by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust. The Special Director of Enforcement Directorate (ED) will head the committee It is AICC president Sonia Gandhi who heads the foundation and has as its members Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram.
The Foundation has a lot to answer about the donations. In the year 2006, reports add that China donated a sum of Rs 90 lakh. It is also in public domain that, in the year 1991, when Manmohan Singh was the finance minister, he had tried allocating a sum of Rs 100 crore to the foundation. He had proposed to sanction Rs 20 crore annually, for a period of 5 years. But due to the massive opposition put forth, the foundation refused to accept the grants.
Also Read: Donations to RGF raise eyebrows
Now, as the probe begins, Sudhir Chaudhary, Editor-in-Chief of Zee News has put out a tweet, displaying the names of donors to the foundation in the year 2007-08.
He notes, “It includes union ministries, PSUs, private firms, individuals and tainted companies. Why were all of them so keen to donate to RGF? There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Are there “free” donations?”
This is the list of donors to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation in 2007-08. It includes union ministries, PSUs, private firms, individuals and tainted companies. Why were all of them so keen to donate to RGF? There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Are there “free” donations? pic.twitter.com/AimGoCrupn
— Sudhir Chaudhary (@sudhirchaudhary)
The list also includes ministries like health and family welfare, environment and forest and small scale industries.
It is to be noted that the issue of Congress signing a deal with Communist Party of China in 2008 has become a big issue. It was signed in Beijing for exchanging high-level information and co-operation between them.
News reports have also thrown light that China extended an invitation to AICC president Sonia Gandhi for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but sidelined the then PM Manmohan Singh.
Also Read: Union home ministry forms committee to look into RGF frauds
As the home ministry ordered an inquiry, Congress was quick to pounce back saying BJP is following vendetta and was resorting to cover-up tactics in the light of coronavirus pandemic, but netizens were quick to educate the Congress that it is the one resorting to vendetta politics by filing more than a hundred FIRs against journalist Arnab Goswamy during the coronavirus pandemic.
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