Tarun Bharat row: Congress seeks action against Vinod Tawde for ‘violating law’

NEW DELHI | MUMBAI: The Congress on Friday ratcheted up pressure on the BJP in the Tarun Bharat controversy, asking Union minister Nitin Gadkari to come clean on facts and demanding removal of Maharashtra education minister Vinod Tawde.

Following an expose by ET on how the BJP had given party funds to a for-profit company Shree Multimedia Vision Limited (SMVL) to launch a newspaper, Tarun Bharat, from its Mumbai office, the Congress described the transfer of funds "flagrant and willful violation of law and blatant conflict of interest".

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Opposition leader in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said Tawde had held a director’s post in the private media company, which amounted to conflict of interest. Azad demanded dismissal of the minister from the Cabinet.

Maharashtra State BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said the Congress was trying to throw ‘dirt’ on the BJP.

"The Congress doesn’t have real issues to highlight and hence is using such tactics. This is nothing but a vain attempt of character assassination," said Bhandari.

In Mumbai, the Congress sought criminal proceedings against the two BJP leaders.

Opposition leader in the assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and state unit chief Sanjay Nirupam alleged Gadkari and Tawde had multiple Director Identification Numbers (DINs), which was a punishable act under the Companies Act. "Having different DINs is a crime. These two great ministers have broken the law," said Nirupam.

Tawde says only one DIN exists in his name and it can be verified with ministry of company affairs. He claimed that there is no law which says a minister should quit the board of a company after one becomes a minister. He termed Congress allegations as ‘laughable’.

The Congress also tried to draw Union finance minister Arun Jaitley in the controversy by playing a video and quoting extracts from his recent blog on the National Herald controversy.

Congress demanded the BJP leadership should apply the same yardstick as National Herald case to Tarun Bharat controversy.

The old video clip quoted Jaitley having said, "A political party collects funds for a political purpose. It is given a tax exemption to utilise those funds only for a political purpose."