UPCC fund fraud: Cong defends Rita

The central leadership of the Congress on Thursday came to the defence of Rita Bahuguna Joshi on the issue of alleged bungling in election funds for Uttar Pradesh. Though AICC secretary Parvez Hashmi said an inquiry conducted by the committee had found that there was misappropriation of funds,he put the blame on Deepak Gupta,who was recently removed as UPCC treasurer.

Hashmi said the inquiry was conducted on the request of state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi when Gupta did not submit his report to the AICC. “However,during the inquiry,it was found that there was misappropriation of funds and Gupta had failed to discharge his duties as treasurer of UPCC. I would also mention here that the amount involved is very small. He has,therefore,been removed from the post,” Hashmi added. This is the first time a Congress leader has confirmed misappropriation of election funds. On Wednesday,Rita Bahuguna Joshi had stated that there had been no financial bungling and that the former treasurer had been “a bit lax in his accounting”. Gupta had alleged that Joshi diverted funds meant for state-wide activities to Lucknow from where she contested the Lok Sabha election.