Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: The Congress leadership has severely criticised Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal for writing a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and enclosing a cheque of Rs nine lakh in response to a notice from the I-T department regarding dues pending on him.
Terming Kejriwal’s letter as an insult to Prime Minister’s Office, Congress spokesman Rashid Alvi said he should have addressed his letter to some senior I-T officer and not to the Prime Minister.
"Kejriwal writing his letter to Prime Minister is insulting his office. I don't know what designation Kejriwal held when he was in service. He should have written to his immediate superior officer in government who would have been the competent authority to take note of it," Alvi told reporters.
In his reaction to the development, Alvi said the former revenue officer should have shown more sincerity in dealing with the matter. The reaction from the Congress party came a day after Kejriwal complained to the Prime Minister, in a letter, that he had been wrongly slapped with a recovery notice of Rs 9.27 lakh by the tax authorities.
The noted RTI activist also enclosed a cheque for the Rs 9,27,787 and said he was depositing it "under protest". In his letter, Kejriwal also requested the Prime Minister that his government should not deal harshly with those people who have given him loan to return the money.
Taking a dig at former police officer Kiran Bedi, Alvi also said that she may also write to the Prime Minister after returning the excess amount she had taken from the NGOs as her travel expenses.
Attacking Anna Hazare, the Congress leader said, “The noted Gandhian would have taken his vow of silence to avoid uncomfortable questions over controversies surrounding some of his team members. “
"One of the team members says there should be a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir, the other travels in economy class but charges additional amount from NGOs, and the third declares an individual is above Constitution. It is indeed difficult to answer questions on these issues," Alvi was quoted as saying.
First Published: Friday, November 04, 2011, 11:46