NEW DELHI: Stepping up the ante on the Congress with revelations on donors of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, BJP chief J P Nadda on Friday alleged that the think tank had got grants from the PM’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) in 2007-08.
“The PMNRF, meant to help people in distress, was donating money to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation in the UPA years. Who sat on the PMNRF board?” asked Nadda, adding that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi chaired the Foundation.
The BJP, incidentally, had defended the constitution of the PM CARES fund in the aftermath of the Covid outbreak with the argument that Sonia remained a member of the PM National Relief Fund.
Nadda said Sonia Gandhi had been in the board of the PMNRF when it donated to the Foundation which she headed at that time.
“People of India donated their hard-earned money to the PMNRF to help fellow citizens in need. To divert this public money into a family run foundation is not only a brazen fraud, but also a big betrayal of the people of India,” Nadda tweeted.
The donor list of 2005-06 shared by Nadda also mentioned the Ministries of Home Affairs and Health and Family Welfare, the Embassy of Luxembourg as donors. Nadda has been accusing the Foundation of undertaking studies to lobby for free trade pact with China, which swelled the bilateral trade deficit to 33 times in favour of Beijing.