On the eve of counting day, newspapers carried stories of how an NGO run by Kiran Bedi received donations from controversial diamond merchant Harshad Ramniklal Mehta.
According to a submission by the Centre before the SC on May 2014, Mehta and his brother Arun Kumar are among 18 persons who allegedly stashed black money with LGT Bank in Liechtenstein, and against whom the IT department has launched prosecution.
Kiran Bedi says that she will not return the donation to Mehta as the onus of proving that his accounts were clean lies on Mehta.
Asked if she was aware Mehta was facing tax evasion charges, Bedi said, “He is a leading diamond seller in the world. However, onus is on him if investigated to establish what kind of accounts he holds. I know him as a very supportive NRI for several worthy causes in India.”
In a way, Kiran Bedi is right. Why should she be blamed for accepting money for a good cause? If a gangster donates money to an orphanage, is it the fault of the latter for accepting the amount if they do not know that the donor is a gangster? However Bedi detractors allege that she knew about Mehta’s ‘fishy background’. But the whole point is the story being leaked by the media exactly on the day votes were to be counted for the Delhi polls.
After the disastrous showing in the Delhi polls, there is no way Kiran Bedi can continue as the head of the BJP in Delhi. The BJP was also aware that they were going to lose in the polls. But removing Kiran Bedi just for electoral defeat would set a bad precedent. Hence, it is surmised that this NGO case was deliberately fed to the media by the BJP itself.
Citing this controversy, the BJP can either ask Kiran Bedi to step aside or the lady might chose to resign and have an honorable exit!
