Crackdown on benami properties

Sundernagar/Kangra (HP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hinted at a crackdown on ‘benami’ properties, and said the Congress is worried as such assets of its leaders will not be spared in his government’s action.

Launching a stinging attack on the opposition party over corruption at an election rally in Sundernagar, Modi said the Congress’ campaign against demonetisation was driven by its attempts to mislead the people and create an atmosphere against him before he can raise a “storm” over benami assets, reports PTI.

“The time has come to return to the poor what had been robbed of them…. I am going to create a situation that they (Congress leaders) would not be able to reclaim their benami assets,” he said.

In a ‘benami’ property, the person who pays for it buys it in the name of some other person.

There would be many Congress leaders, the prime minister claimed, who would have purchased assets like cars and houses in the names of their drivers and cooks. He would tell these people that they should not return them to these leaders if they are asked to transfer their ownership, Modi said.

“I am going to create a situation that they would not be able to reclaim it. This is people’s money. This has been robbed of the masses and would be used for their welfare,” he said.

People had given him power in 2014 to fight corruption and he would continue to do so, Modi said.        Mocking at the Congress’ campaign against demonetisation, he said that God gives at times the opposition party “wisdom” which comes to his use.