PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) on Thursday accused Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor of financing his party through funds from a charitable company in contravention of the law and demanded a probe.
JD(U) chief spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar alleged Kishor got funds from Joy of Giving Global Foundation, which is registered as a company under the Companies Act. He claimed that JGGF carried out political activities in the garb of a charitable foundation and even enjoyed tax exemptions.
He charged the charitable foundation with committing serious irregularities in financial transactions as the foundation received donations worth Rs 48.75 crore from various companies during 2023-24. Strangely, the capital base of these companies was lower than their donations, he alleged. He said Kishor should explain why he had donated Rs 50 lakh to the charitable organisation and whether it came from his personal income or “unaccounted-for” income.
He said the financial statements of Kishor and his party’s EBC Cell chief, Rambali Singh, were contradictory. He said while Kishor claimed that the party was not facing any financial crunch, Singh stated that it didn’t even have a bank account.
In an informal chat with a group of journalists recently, Kishor had claimed that he was running the party from the money he earned as a poll strategist, working for several political parties. “Don’t need to bother about funds to run the party. I will use my ‘skill’ and earn crores of rupees,” he said in response to a query.