BJP politicising black money issue, says Cong

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Congress today accused BJP ofpoliticising the issue of black money and asked what stepswere taken by the NDA government to bring the funds backfrom foreign countries when it was in power at the Centre.

"They are not interested in getting money back. They areonly interested in making noise over the issue because itsuits their political agenda...What are steps the NDA took tobring back the black money stashed in foreign banks...whateversteps that have been taken in this regard so far were taken bythe UPA government," party spokesperson Manish Tewari toldreporters here.

He was reacting to the statements of NDA''s workingChairperson L K Advani who today asked all chief ministers andother senior most leaders to declare their assets and told thegovernment to make all efforts to bring Indian slush fundsstashed in tax havens.

Tewari''s reaction came hours after senior NDA leaders helda press conference to present the report of a task forceappointed by BJP to look into the issue of Indian black moneystashed abroad and ways of dealing with the issue.

He said that while every Indian and every political partywould like to see that the Indian money stashed in those bankswere brought back, "merely making statements won''t achievethat."

"Even Advaniji knows that only the UPA government tooksteps in this regard be it going against the 20 tax havencountries in G-20 meeting or signing tax treaties with 10countries where the black money is deposited. I want to askBJP what they did when they came to power. Black money issueexisted even then...it''s only the UPA government which walkedthe talk," he said.

On BJP saying that the black money issue will be a majorissue in the Budget session of Parliament, Tewari said, "Itclearly reeks of politics." PTI AMR SPG