NDA leaders to give undertaking on slush funds

Turning the heat on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government on the vexed issue of slush funds stashed abroad, the National Democratic Alliance, the main opposition grouping, declared on Tuesday that all its MPs and leaders would declare their assets and give an undertaking that they had no black money parked in foreign banks.

The resolution will apply to all NDA party presidents, chief ministers, and MPs, and central office-bearers. "We will then tell the government that we have no black money abroad and if any such money is detected, it would belong to you," Bharatiya Janata Party veteran and NDA working chairman L K Advani declared after a meeting of the alliance at his residence in New Delhi.
 
Punjab chief minister and Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, who was present at the briefing, said that NDA chief ministers would write to the centre authorising it to seize any black money kept by any one of them overseas. When asked if Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa (widely accused of corruption) would make a similar pledge, Advani said all NDA chief ministers would do so.
 
The NDA also released a report of a BJP task force on black money.

"If it is money that is legally earned and deposited abroad, then it should be brought back home. If it is illegally gotten wealth, the government must probe the sources and take action against the person," said Badal.

Advani, at whose home the meeting was held, demanded that India immediately become a signatory to the United Nations convention against corruption and put in place a mechanism to recover black money through an Act of Parliament in the budget session. The convention has already been approved by most of the UN member nations, and India is among the 14 countries, which have not ratified it, Advani pointed out.

"When small countries like Peru have managed to get back cash deposits from Swiss banks, what is preventing India from following suit?" he asked.
 
The NDA leaders also decided not to give up their demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the 2G spectrum, Commonwealth Games and Adarsh housing scandals during the budget session that begins on 21 February. "To this day, the government has not given a single reason why a JPC is not being set up," said Lok Sabha opposition leader Sushma Swaraj of the BJP.

Asked if the NDA would continue stalling Parliament over the issue as it did in the monsoon session, she said, "We will firm up our strategy on the session eve."

The NDA leaders also demanded that a law be passed in the next Parliament session to make it mandatory for all MPs, chiefs of political parties, etc to declare that they do not have black money stored in tax havens or elsewhere. "There should be a general (not specifically against any persons) FIR against those keeping black money abroad. It has been done in the case of terrorism in Punjab, in the North-East ... in Nagaland," Advani said.

Advani said the NDA had discussed the issue of black money on 6 January and written a detailed letter to the prime minister but "did not even get an acknowledgement, forget a reply, till now".
 
Stating that the issues of corruption, food inflation and black money are inter-linked, Advani alleged that the government has "not even moved an inch" to bring back black money stashed abroad.