Biocon's Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw's ‘political donations’ clarification on electoral bonds
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said that she purchased electoral bonds on a personal level to fund election campaigns.
Biocon Ltd executive chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has clarified that the company did not donate to any political party in any form. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, however, also said she purchased electoral bonds on a personal level to fund election campaigns.
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In an X (formally Twitter) post, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said she gave nominal funding to Janata Dal (Secular) and other parties and stressed that the donations were made with “white money”.
“I would like to clarify that Biocon did not make any political donations to JDS or any other party for elections. At a personal level I purchased electoral bonds which I donated to JDS & several parties. My donations were nominal on the principle of funding election campaigns with white money,” she said.
When an X user recently claimed that Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw had donated ₹5 crore every month before the Karnataka assembly election, she refuted the allegation and asked the user to do the math.
Kiran added that the donations were not made for any “favours”. When a user asked what she got in return, she said, “Nothing - I did it of my own free will. Have you followed BPAC? Don’t make such allegations. I have never ever made any contributions for favours. It’s very sad to see such comments.”
On March 12, the State Bank of India shared all details of electoral bonds with the election commission. On Sunday, the Election Commission of India released data received from political parties on electoral bonds, which it had given to the Supreme Court in sealed covers.
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Karnataka on Saturday, chief minister Siddaramaiah launched an attack on him asking the former why the BJP was silent about the electoral bonds case. Siddaramaiah also asked why the SBI was reluctant to submit the details of electoral bonds to the apex court.