Sonia Gandhi Demands Access to Congress Bank Accounts, Alleges Financial Crippling by PM Modi

In order to guarantee fair competition in the lead-up to the Lok Sabha elections, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi urged on Thursday that the party be granted access to its bank accounts, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of financially starving the party, according to PTI.

The party emphasized that all of its accounts were blocked during a news conference that Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge also spoke at.

Rahul Gandhi, the former president of the Congress, lashed out at the government, saying, "We can do no campaign work... Our ability to fight elections has been damaged." The attack stemmed from the party's accounts being frozen because of an issue with income tax reports.

Congress President Kharge continued, "Defreeze our accounts to ensure a level playing field in polls."

Rahul Gandhi claims that this is a freezing of Indian democracy rather than the Congress's finances.

Rahul Gandhi declared that the freezing of accounts was a criminal action by the prime minister and home minister as well as a criminal action against the Congress, saying that "there is no democracy in India today and the idea that India is the world's largest democracy is a complete lie."

"There are institutions that are supposed to protect the democratic framework but nothing is happening," he stated.

Sonia Gandhi said that funds from the Congress's accounts were being seized with force.

She attacked the government, saying, "The prime minister is working on a systematic plan to financially cripple the Congress."

According to Sonia Gandhi, there are two issues at hand: the electoral bonds issue and the main opposition party's finances being attacked.

Sonia Gandhi told reporters, "Even under these challenges, we are doing our best to maintain the effectiveness of our campaign."

She remarked that the problem is very serious and impacts not only Congress but also India's democracy.

"I appeal to constitutional bodies that they should allow our party to access bank accounts if they want free and fair polls," Kharge stated.

He claimed that the party in power collected money through electoral bonds and blocked the Congress's accounts to make it more difficult for it to oppose the polls.

He declared that "those in power should not have monopoly over resources" and that "those in power should not have direct or indirect control over constitutional bodies." 

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