Accusing the Congress-led UPA government of being "neck deep" in corruption, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today claimed that the centre knew who had stashed away money in foreign banks.
"Capitalists in India have amassed Rs 70 lakh crore and some of them have deposited money in Indian banks and in banks abroad too. Our central government knows who are they," Bhattacharjee told reporters at a rally in this north Bengal town.
Holding the UPA government responsible for the "unchecked growth" of corruption and black money in the country, he said, "In our poor country, we have about 100 world's richest people here. No idea what they do with such huge money and one section has stashed away such money in Swiss banks where bad people keep money."
The chief minister's comments come after finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today yet again ruled out disclosing names of those who have stashed away money in tax havens broad but disclosed that notices have been sent to 17 of the 18 names of account holders in a bank in Liechtenstein.
Hitting out against the Centre's "failure" to curb corruption, Bhattacharjee said Congress leader Ashok Chavan might soon be jailed.
"The Congress is neck deep in corruption and among many other corrupt practices known to us, the latest is the case of corruption against Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister (Ashok Chavan) who may be jailed shortly for his involvement in the Adarsh housing scam," he said.
Alleging that the "total failure and inept handling" by the UPA government had brought the country's economy to the brink of a "disaster", Bhattacharjee said the government should open more public distribution system shops and revamp the rationing system.
"When millions of people in India starve half a day, and when a large chunk of the population earns Rs 20 a day, a section of people have been amassing wealth by delving deep in corruption before the eyes of the government," he said.
"Under the Congress rule, two sections of people have thrived — highly rich and corrupt and a large section ofextreme poor having little means of eking out a living," Bhattacharjee said.
