Cong demands access to its bank accounts, Sonia says systematic effort by PM to cripple party

New Delhi: A systematic effort is underway by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cripple the Congress financially, Sonia Gandhi alleged on Thursday as her party stepped up its demand for access to its bank accounts to ensure a level playing field in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls.

In a press conference also addressed by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, the party stressed that all its accounts were frozen. The move, the party's top brass said, not just impacted the Congress but democracy in India.

"...We can do no campaign work... Our ability to fight elections has been damaged," former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said while launching a scathing attack on the government over the issue of freezing of the party's accounts due to an Income Tax returns issue.

"Defreeze our accounts to ensure a level playing field in polls," Kharge demanded.

The three senior leaders were flanked by Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh and AICC treasurer Ajay Maken at the press conference.

"The BJP has looted donations given to the Congress party by the common public by freezing our accounts and forcibly withdrawing Rs 115.32 crore from them," Maken alleged.

Terming the freezing of accounts a criminal action against the Congress by the prime minister and home minister, Rahul Gandhi said, "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 said.

Adding her voice to the chorus of condemnation by party leaders, Sonia Gandhi said the issue being taken up today is "very, very serious" and affects not just the Congress but "impacts our democracy itself most fundamentally".

"A systematic effort is underway by the prime minister to cripple the Indian National Congress financially. Funds collected from the public are being frozen, and money from our accounts is being taken away forcibly," she said.

"However, even under these most challenging circumstances, we are doing our best to maintain the effectiveness of our election campaign," she said.

"On the one hand, there is the electoral bond issue, which has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The electoral bonds have benefitted the BJP hugely. On the other hand, the finances of the principal opposition party, the INC, are under a determined assault," she said.

This is truly unprecedented, Sonia Gandhi added.

Kharge appealed to constitutional bodies to allow the Congress to access bank accounts if they want free and fair polls and added that holding fair polls is essential.

The party in power, he said, amassed funds through electoral bonds while freezing the Congress' accounts to create hurdles for it in fighting polls.

"Those in power should not have direct or indirect control over constitutional bodies," he said, adding that those in power should not have monopoly over resources.