New Delhi: Shiv Sena, a key ally of ruling NDA, today expressed doubts over whether the government would be able to retrieve lack money stashed abroad and linked to the unsuccessful attempts to bring underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
“Bringing back black money can be an election issue, but nothing will come to us. It is like shooting in the air,” Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said while participating in a discussion on the black money issue in Rajya Sabha.
To buttress his point, he linked it to the failed efforts to bring Dawood Ibrahim who still roams beyond India's reach in Pakistan.
“We can't bring him (Dawood) here even after trying for 20 years. If we can't do that, how will we be able to bring back black money?,” he asked.
Raut also wondered why no politician's name figured in the list of foreign bank account holders submitted by the government to the Supreme Court.
“The list (given by the Centre to Supreme Court) is a long one. Why only industrialists' name figure in the list? Why not a single politician's name is there in the list? For the last 50 years, there were so many corruptions and scams,” he said.
Claiming that 90 per cent of black money was in India itself, he alleged that a lot of it was pumped in during the recently-concluded Assembly elections in Maharashtra, his home state.
“In India, there is huge amount of black money. Try to seize that first and do the talking about bringing back black money stashed abroad later,” he told the government of which his party is a part.
“Every year, Rs 600 crore worth of black money is created and 10 per cent of this money goes to foreign countries. Seize them later. Try to seize the money from within the country, if you have guts. But, we won't show guts as we all need black money to fight election,” he said.
“There is no need to search for black money abroad, it is here within the country. I can give you 15 builders name who have black money. Do you have the guts to take action against them?,” he wondered.
“The intention of the government on black money was good and we should strengthen the hands of our Prime Minister to bring back such money,” he said.
