Congress accuses Modi of ‘crippling’ it ahead of elections with tax case

MUMBAI: India’s main opposition Congress party accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday of crippling it before the upcoming general election by freezing its accounts in an income tax case.

A part of the Congress’ bank accounts was frozen last month pending a tax case that dates back to 2018-19, the party has said previously. Earlier this month, a tax tribunal dismissed its appeal to pause recovery of 1.35 billion rupees ($16.32 million) in income tax from its bank accounts.

On Thursday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said all accounts belonging to the party had been frozen, leaving it with no access to funds for campaigning.

“20 percent of India votes for us and we can’t even pay two rupees for anything. It has been orchestrated to cripple us in the elections,” Gandhi said at a press conference.

A spokesperson for the Income Tax department, in its response to Reuters’ queries, said it cannot disclose information of taxpayers, and cited a tax tribunal and a court order in its favour.

General elections are scheduled to be held in seven phases starting next month, with most opinion polls predicting an easy win for Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Congress, which leads a rag-tag bunch of bickering opposition parties in alliance for the general elections, is seen as Modi’s main challenger.