Opposition parties, on Monday, criticised the Centre’s decision to partially disclose the names of tax offenders who have stashed money in foreign banks. While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party termed the declaration as “historic”, Opposition parties reminded Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the BJP’s poll campaign promise that all legal hurdles to bring back black money would be cleared within 100 days of coming to power.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the Government was sensationalising a serious issue. “After so much talk, just three names? Where are the lakhs and crores of money promised by the BJP during the campaign? Where are the 55,000 names of offenders promised by Baba Ramdev?” he asked.

Singhvi urged the Government to stop sensationalising the issue. “This is not an occasion for press sensationalism by the Government. Do not titillate and sensationalise such an issue,” he said.

The Aam Aadmi Party asked the BJP Government to immediately disclose the names of all account holders. “Why did the Central Government disclose only these three names? Does the rest of the list contain names of those who are close to the BJP?” asked AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan.

The AAP leaders said the BJP was believed to have spent thousands of crores of rupees in its election campaign for the Lok Sabha and the recent Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly polls. “People suspect whether the list contains names of those who provided funds for the election campaign,” they alleged.

AAP urged the Centre to complete investigations in all cases in a time-bound manner and take strictest action against the guilty.

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