Act against BJP, Congress over foreign funds: Delhi HC

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday asked the central government and the Election Commission to take appropriate actions against the Congress and the BJP for taking foreign funds in violation of law.

Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Jayant Nath allowed the plea of an NGO filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan seeking directions for a probe into donations allegedly taken by the parties from subsidiaries of the Britain-based Vedanta group.


The bench said the concerned authority should act within six months in accordance with the law.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress had claimed that Vedanta Resources was not a foreign company and therefore no law had been violated.

The PIL filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms through Bhushan said the Britain-based Vedanta Resources and its subsidiary companies in India - including Sterlite Industries, Sesa Goa and Malco - "have donated several crores of rupees to major political parties like the Congress and the BJP".

The two parties breached the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), the PIL alleged.

Mamata dares BJP to divide Bengal, hits back at Congress

 Naxalbari , March 25:

Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday lashed out at both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, asking the people not to vote for them in the coming general elections. “BJP is another party which promised to divide Bengal five years back. Last time they came and won here seeking to separate Darjeeling from Bengal. Just see their audacity for coming here once again with their bag loads of money and seeking to divide our state. We do not practice politics where we divide amongst people. They talk something in the hills and when they go back to the plains they talk differently. Just try your divisive acts in Bengal’s soil, we will teach you a lesson. We will fall but will never give up on our resistance,” Banerjee said. “A mother cannot separate between two of its children. One cannot divide a heart into two. Both the people from hills and plains are my sisters and brothers. A party which is corrupt such as BJP has the guts to talk about good governance in the name of forming small states,” TMC chief added. The TMC chief Mamata Banerjee also hit out at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi without naming him. “We have built state highway in a record 31 days. While there are highways which could not be taken up as the Centre didn’t heed to our repeated requests. It is a ploy of the Centre which tries to discredit the state government as we are ruling the state,” Mamata said. She also asked the people to take a pledge and not give a single vote in favour of the Congress in Bengal and attacked the party for being involved in defence scams and held Congress accountable. “This time we will ensure that they get double zeroes and are out from Delhi. Do not vote for the Congress, they have not done anything for this state, they have deprived us for long, hence they cannot expect to get a single vote. They are talking as if they are giving crores from their own pocket to the people of Bengal. Why have all the money gone to foreign lands? Where are all these black money coming from? Do not provoke me to open my mouth,” Mamata added. Rahul had earlier in a separate rally in Jalpaiguri, criticized the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress Government in West Bengal without naming her, and said the current regime was no different to the previous Left Front Government that was voted out from the state. (ANI)