All grants to RGF duly accounted for: Congress

Breaking its silence, Congress on Friday dismissed allegations of wrongdoings in the funds that the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) received from the Chinese embassy and the Prime Minister's Relief Fund, and accused the Modi government of diverting attention from its "failures" to the "cacophony of manufactured" controversy.

In a statement on Friday night, Congress chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said the grants received by the RGF have been duly accounted for and reported to the Income Tax Department as well as the Home Ministry.

Surjewala said the Chinese Embassy had extended a grant of Rs 1.45 crore to the RGF for a welfare program for disabled persons and research on Sino-India relations.

"This grant was used for the purposes specified. RGF accounts were duly audited and statutory returns were filed under Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) to the Government of India," he said.

The Congress spokesperson said that the RGF had received a "modest" grant of Rs 20 lakh from the PMNRF for carrying out relief work in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami.

"We want to tell PM Modi and BJP President Nadda that their total failure to protect national security and territorial integrity of India cannot be washed away in the cacophony of manufactured and desperate allegations vis-à-vis grants received by the RGF foundation which has been duly audited and reported both to the Income Tax as also to the Home Ministry," Surjewala said.