Union Minister and BJP leader Anurag Thakur re-launched attacks on the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in the parliament a day after saying that he was pained after repeated adjournments in the house because of his comments on former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the Gandhi family.

He appeared defiant on his act in the parliament on Saturday, saying he had done no wrong.

Anurag Thakur led the attack on the opposition in response to queries about the PM CARES fund. Attacking Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for going abroad for treatment, he alleged a diversion of funds and misuse of properties by foundations controlled by the Gandhis and getting funds from ministries and public sector companies.

He further said if the Opposition wants CAG audit, it should be ready for a CAG audit of “family-run trusts.”

“The PM-CARES fund was registered on March 27, 2020, under the 1908 Act. An independent auditor was appointed. Nobody is forced to donate to this fund. The members of the trust are all ex officio members such as Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Finance,” Anurag Thakur said.

His senior, Nirmala Sitharaman had also asked the opposition benches why a member of the Jan Sangh such as Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, or a leader like Ram Manohar Lohia, could not also have been made part of PMNRF.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury condemned the attack by Thakur on Gandhis ans said there was decorum for referring to former leaders and it was not being followed.

He also attacked the BJP for continuously saying the Congress had scammed the taxpayers but not one allegation could be substantiated.

Other MPs apart from Congress’ also attacked the government over the PM CARES Fund.

N K Premachandran of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) said, “I can’t understand the logic to have a separate fund. What is the difference between the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund and the PM CARES Fund. The question of transparency and accountability is the main issue I want to highlight.”

TMC MP, Mahua Moitra asked why the PM CARES Fund is not answerable to parliament even though it collects funds from the public. She said that 38 public sector companies contributed Rs 2,100 crore to the fund which is 70 per cent of the total corpus.