Modi takes a swipe at Samajwadi party for UP cash haul

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday took a swipe at the Samajwadi Party over the seizure of crores of rupees in cash from a Kanpur-based perfume trader and said it was the “achievement and reality” of the prime opposition party in the state.

“Boxes filled with notes that have come out, I was thinking they (Samajwadi Party) will say that this was also done by us. The people of Kanpur understand business and trade well. Before 2017, the perfume of corruption that they had sprinkled all over Uttar Pradesh is there for everyone to see,” the Prime Minister said, after inaugurating a metro rail project in Kanpur, without taking any name.

“But now, they are sitting with their mouths shut. They are not coming forward to take credit for the mountain of currency notes seen by the entire country. This is their achievement and their reality. The people of Uttar Pradesh are seeing and understanding everything and hence, they are with those who are working to take the state forward,” he said.

On Monday, the finance ministry said that GST officers had seized more than Rs 177 crore unaccounted cash from the house of perfume trader Piyush Jain in Kanpur.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, however, categorically denied any links between his party and Piyush Jain, and mockingly said the BJP got “its own businessman” raided “by mistake”.

He also said the CDR (call detail record) of the businessman’s phone would reveal the names of several BJP leaders who were in touch with him. “By mistake, the BJP got its own businessman raided. Instead of SP leader Pushpraj Jain, it got Piyush Jain raided,” Yadav said.