India will lose if the BJP retains power: DMK leader Kanimozhi

DMK leader and Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi on Friday strongly criticised the freezing of the Congress party's main bank accounts, claiming it reflects the BJP's fear of engaging in the electoral process democratically.

The bank accounts of the Congress were frozen over an income tax demand of Rs 210 crore, but an I-T appellate tribunal later allowed the party to operate them pending a further hearing next week, in some semblance of relief for the party, which said the move had impacted all political activity.

"I strongly condemn the freezing of the Congress and Youth Congress bank accounts mere weeks before the elections in India, the largest democracy. This action unmistakably reflects a fear of the BJP engaging in the electoral process democratically," Kanimozhi said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, addressing a public meeting at Ottapidaram in her constituency of Thoothukudi on Thursday, she said the opposition INDIA bloc will win the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

"India will lose if the BJP retains power. Their victory is this country's loss," she remarked.

Though the BJP is now claiming it will win over 400 seats in the elections, "we have to be confident that there will be a regime change", she said and referred to the saffron party's loss in recent state elections, including Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh.

She also pointed out that the BJP received over Rs 6,000 crore in electoral bonds, as revealed in RTIs. Electoral bonds were introduced by the BJP-led government in the 2017-18 Union Budget and were used by corporates and individuals to fund political parties, under a provision that political parties need not disclose who their donors are.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bonds scheme as unconstitutional.