All major political parties received tobacco money NGO

Chandigarh, Sep 19 (UNI) An NGO that has been campaigning against smoking and use of tobacco, today claimed that all major politcal parties including the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) that had received donations from tobacco company, ITC.

Reacting to the furore created by the revelation that the SAD, claiming to be a representative of the Sikhs, had received money from ITC, burning brain society (BBS) chairperson Hemant Goswami, claimed in a statement that 18 political parties having epresentation in Parliament had received money from ITC. Fourteen of these political parties belong to the ruling alliance and the lions share had gone to the Congress and BJP, he further claimed.

Mr Goswami said the issue was not merely of religious importance but rather of public and social importance.''If it is merely a question of a Sikh receiving election fund, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and SAD chief Prakash Singh Badal, all are at par, as it's the tobacco money which is helping them in their political functioning'', the statement added.

Mr Goswami said his NGO would be approaching the Election Commission with a plea to draft new rules so that political parties do not accept donations from companies that ''work against public interest and welfare of society''.

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