BJP attacks Gandhi family over IT tribunal order on Young Indian

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Saturday attacked the Gandhi family after the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea to consider Young Indian (YI) as a charitable institution, accusing it of hiding the truth and indulging in corruption in the matter related to Associated Journals Limited (AJL).

At a press conference, BJP leader and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that the Congress' ruling family amassed properties worth more than Rs 2,000 crore through investment of just Rs 50 lakh in AJL and dubbed it as the "family model of development".

There was no immediate reaction from the Congress but it has earlier rejected a similar charge by the BJP and termed the probe as a case of political vendetta.

Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others have been accused of paying just Rs 50 lakh through which YI, a not-for-profit organisation, had obtained the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that the AJL owed to the Congress party.

The BJP said that AJL has properties worth more than Rs 2,000 crore.

"You hid the truth. When you applied to make it (Young Indian) a charitable institution in 2010, at that time you did not say that you have possession of property worth more than Rs 2,000 crore in just Rs 50 lakh," said Prasad.

"The BJP condemns this palpable dubious transaction of undue enrichment. It is corruption," he added.

"There is a judicial affirmation...that family and commerce go hand in hand and you (family) invoke dubious methods for enrichment," he added.

In July last year, the Income Tax department asked the YI to pay tax of around Rs 145 crore.

"In Rs 50 lakh, you became the owner of property worth Rs 2,000 crore. What kind of model is this? This should be investigated," Prasad told reporters.

"When BJP used to discuss Robert Vadra and his doings earlier, it used to say that there are various models of development - one of it is Vadra model of development," Prasad said.

"Under it (Vadra model of development), you invest Rs 20-25 lakh, and you become the owner of big real estate properties in Gurgaon," he said.

The minister said that after Vadra model of development, he used to think that a new model of development would not come.

"But this (Young Indian matter) is family model of development. Pariwar model of development. Invest Rs 50 lakh and become the owner of property worth Rs 2,000 crore," Prasad said.