Who took Chinese money: Congress, BJP trade barbs

Last updated on February 14th, 2023 at 11:34 am

The ruling party had accused the Gandhi family of accepting Chinese funds while the Congress hit back with allegations that Chinese firms have been contributing to PM CARES.

The past few days have seen tense exchanges between Congress and BJP on who has been taking Chinese money. Earlier in the week, the BJP Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad joined several party leaders in accusing the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation of accepting donations from the Chinese Embassy in 2005-06 during the UPA I tenure. He said that the Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had ensured that the privately-run foundation, of which Sonia Gandhi is the Chairperson, received Rs 100 crore in funding.

BJP construes this as a bribe by the Chinese because after this donation the foundation recommended a free trade agreement that was heavily advantaged to the Chinese. In ten years of Congress rule, Prasad said, the party ensured that China earned a lot of money and in the trade deficit was allowed to increase 33 times than what it was before. It also accused the party of signing an MOU with the communist party of China in 2008 and of Rahul Gandhi “secretly” visiting the Chinese embassy during the Doklam standoff.