New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday took potshots in the Lok Sabha at LK Advani's Jan Chetna Yatra and the BJP's declaration that none of its MPs held illegal bank accounts abroad.
In his reply to the debate on Adjournment Motion moved by Advani on the issue of black money, Mukherjee said though he appreciated the BJP leader's efforts it was not clear what purpose would be served by it.
"I would like to know the outcome of the Jan Chetna Yatra .... He undertook this arduous journey from one end (of the country) to the other," Mukherjee said.
However, he sought to know if this exercise would make those holding black money accounts reduce their activity and disclose their accounts details.
In another jibe at the Opposition, Mukherjee said he did not intend to "win any brownie points here and there" and hence would not indulge in giving some fancy figures about the quantum of Indian black money abroad.
Mukherjee also took dig at the opposition and the media for highlighting the name of a certain Swiss Bankers' Association, saying despite all his "sincere efforts" in the last two years, including asking the government of Switzerland, he could not locate this body.
Virtually ridiculing the declarations submitted by BJP MPs that they do not have any illegal money stashed away in foreign banks, Mukherjee said, "Nobody will say he has black money."
Several members had an amused look when Mukherjee pointed out that the Opposition charge of India signing the double taxation treaty only in 2012 was wrong as it was signed in September 2010. "I do not need anybody to tell me this as I am the signatory," he said.
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