Perfume triggers scent of electoral war between BJP and SP

BJP and SP each claimed that a perfume trader — from whom large amounts of cash and precious metals were recovered — were linked to the other

Recovery of hundreds of crores in cash and gold and silver during an Income Tax raid from a perfume trader in Kanpur has triggered an electoral war between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the BJP, with both claiming that the trader was connected to the other.

An IT team had raided the offices and residence of Peeyush Jain a few days ago. The raid that continued for several days yielded Rs 284 crore in cash, 25 kilograms of gold and 250 kilograms of silver. The trader was later arrested on charges of tax evasion.

The BJP leaders were quick to claim that Jain was connected to the SP and also that the trader had accumulated huge wealth during the tenure of Akhilesh Yadav.

From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, as well as UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the BJP launched scathing attacks on SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav after the raids.

Also Read — PM Modi launches section of Kanpur Metro

Addressing a public meeting at Kanpur on Tuesday, Modi said that the ''perfume of their corruption in UP has come out...the mountain of notes is their only achievement'' referring to the raid. ''Will they take credit for the boxes of notes? They are silent now,'' Modi said.

While Modi did not nake Akhilesh, Shah was forthright. ''Akhilesh is in pain as the IT raided a businessman close to his party and a huge amount of cash was recovered from him,'' Shah said, addressing a public meeting at Hardoi on Tuesday.

Adityanath also attacked Akhilesh over the raid and said that the recovery was proof of large-scale corruption during the SP's regime.

Akhilesh, however, hit back claiming that the trader had links with the BJP leaders. "The BJP government wanted the IT to raid some other perfume trader but then one of its own workers, who was also a perfume trader, was raided," he said, claiming that the cell phone records of the trader could reveal names of several prominent BJP leaders.

Watch the latest DH Videos here: