Reveal all names, Cong dares Centre

War of words begins on Black Money issue

• Cong is not going to be blackmailed under any such threat: Maken
• Do not to limit the declaration of names only to 136 individuals
• Stricter action should be taken against whoever is involved
• Cong accuses BJP government of ‘practising hypocrisy’ on the issue

New Delhi: Congress on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over his remarks that disclosure of names of those holding illicit foreign accounts will embarrass the Opposition party and dared him to come out with full information instead of "half truths" and "selective leakage".

"Congress is not going to be blackmailed under any such threat. Congress party is above individuals. Stricter possible action should be taken against whoever is involved in it but that should not be inspired by vindictiveness and it should also not be half truth," AICC Communication Department chairman Ajay Maken told reporters here.

The issue of blackmoney has led to a war of words between the ruling BJP and Congress. The government recently told the Supreme Court that it cannot disclose the names of Swiss bank account holders, a stand the UPA had taken earlier.

As Congress accused the BJP government of "practising "hypocrisy" on the issue, Jaitely said, "The names (of black money account holders) will be public shortly... I can assure you there is no embarrassment I (BJP) will have when all the names are disclosed. There is some embarrassment the Congress party will have because of those names".

Dismissing it, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh accused Jaitley of "bluffing" while Youth Congress chief Rajiv Satav wondered what is stopping the Finance Minister from naming those people.

Reacting sharply to Jaitley's remarks, Maken said, "There is no need to blackmail Congress. Whatever name they have, they should reveal and act as they have a government. They should not try to blackmail us.

"We also tell them not to limit the declaration of names only to 136 individuals. We want to tell the BJP and the Prime Minister that half truth is not the truth. They should not go for selective and vindictive leakages. They should come out with all the names."

Maken also recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his Lok Sabha election campaign, had said that if the black money is brought back, each citizen will have Rs 15 lakh while Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was then BJP President, had promised to bring back black money within 100 days.

"Do not mislead people about names. People of the country are not going to get into this trap of names. People of the country are waiting that when will the government bring back blackmoney. 100 days have already passed and it is to be 150 days. So not not a single penny has come."