Income Tax department issues notice to Aam Aadmi Party, Congress over funding

The Income Tax Department has served a notice to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), seeking an explanation on charges - that have already been denied by the party - of receiving funds from dubious sources as alleged by a splinter group.

The department, that functions under the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) of the Ministry of Finance, has asked the party to furnish its reply by February 16 - two days after Arvind Kejriwal is scheduled to take oath as Delhi chief minister following a stunning win in the assembly polls.

A similar notice has also been served to the Congress.

"Yes, we have been served a notice. It is clearly a sign of political vendetta. Let me ask: Why has a similar notice not been served on BJP? Why single us and the AAP out. BJP has also spent crores of rupees on elections," a party spokesperson told IANS.

In the run-up to the elections, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had alleged that AAP was caught red-handed in receiving dubious funds from companies that did not have any business, and accused its leadership of adopting diversionary tactics to deflect attention.

He said such donations amounted to Rs 2 crore through cheques of Rs 50 lakh each from four firms.

AAP had protested such allegations.

"Mr. Finance Minister. Stop throwing muck. Act. Arrest me if i am guilty," Kejriwal had tweeted. "Fin min (finance minister) says we took hawala money. Hawala money in cheques? I dare Fin min to arrest me if we took hawala money."

He had also written to Chief Justice of India, H.L. Dattu, and urged him to set up a special probe team to probe investigate not just his party, but also the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress for the Delhi elections.