An old tweet of embroiled Congress MP Dhiraj Sahu criticising demonitisation and alleging the Bharatiya Janata Party of corruption has gone viral on social media on Sunday. Sahu has been at the centre of the Income Tax Department raids where officials recovered around Rs 300 crore in cash from his premises.
In a seemingly mocking post on X (formerly Twitter), Amit Malviya, the national convener of the IT cell of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), shared a screenshot of Sahu's 2022 tweet on demonitisation and corruption. In the tweet, the Jharkhand MP said that he was "distressed" to see rampant corruption despite demonitisation.
"I do not understand how do people accumulate so much black money. Only Congress party can remove corruption from its roots," Sahu's tweet read.
Taking a jibe at Sahu, Malviya wrote, "Dhiraj Prasad Sahu has a dark sense of humour."
In a sweeping operation, the Income Tax Department carried out co-ordinated raids across three states. The officials recovered cash valued at over Rs 300 crore from properties linked to Sahu. The raids targeted liquor distillery group Boudh Distilleries Private Limited (BDPL), based in Odisha. The process of counting the seized cash is still underway. The Income Tax authorities deployed additional manpower and machinery, underscoring the gravity of this operation, which entered its sixth day.
BJP lashes out at Congress
Meanwhile, the BJP sought clarification from Congress over the matter. "The amount has reached Rs 300 crore ... The Congress has tried to spread corruption from generation to generation," said Union minister and BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi. "Rs 300 crore is just the amount found with one politician; the count is still left for the rest of the corrupt politicians in the entire Congress. If they were all put together, imagine how many notes would come out."
The Congress, however, has distanced itself from Sahu. "I want to clarify that the party's stand on this issue is very clear. This is a personal issue of Dhiraj Sahu, and the Congress is not related to it," Congress leader Anivash Pandey told reporters on Sunday.
