IT dept notice to AAP over donors' list; Anna slams Kejriwal

New Delhi: Due to discrepancies in the donors' list submitted to the tax officials and when is shown on the party website, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was on Monday slapped with a show cause notice by the Income Tax department.

Condemning the notice, AAP tagged it as malicious and claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government was harassing the party and targeting its donors.

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Taking a dig into the matter, AAP national treasurer Raghav Chadha said, "Initially, the list submitted to the IT department had an inadvertent error which now has been rectified in the revised ITR after receiving the notice."

"It is a legitimate right of a party to revise an IT return. AAP has not concealed a single donation. We have maintained 100 per cent transparency in donors' details and the amount we receive. The IT department sent us a notice and soon after receiving it, we revised the IT return," he added.

The party further claimed that it removed the donors' list from their website as the donors were being harassed by the IT sleuths.

Launching an attack on the AAP, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari claimed that the funding details of AAP are 'manipulated'.

"AAP's demand for withdrawal of its accounts submitted to the authorities vindicates our stand. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should clarify the things right away as he has been claiming all through that he is a champion of transparency in polity," Tiwari said.

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Retaliating to Tiwari's allegations, Kejriwal tweeted, "AAP receives less than 8% of its donations in cash against 70-80% cash donations by Cong-BJP."

Another AAP leader cited technical glitches for the error in the initial list submitted to the IT department.

"We put all donations on the website but at times mistakes happen because of some technical errors. For instance, there have been cases in which a donor has tried to make payment, but the transaction could not be completed. In that case, our website reflected that payment has been made, but we did not receive money in our bank account," the leader claimed.

Well, the removal of donors' list from the website of AAP has also irked veteran social activist Anna Hazare as he slammed Arvind Kejriwal for not fulfilling the promises made to the people.

"You had promised that AAP will reveal the details of all donations received on the party website. In the letter (that I received), the activists have written that the list of donors has been removed from the AAP website since June 2016," Hazare wrote, in a letter, to the AAP national convenor.

"You (Arvind Kejriwal) promised me as well as the society that you will bring change. I feel sad that you did not fulfill you promise," he added.