Kolkata, Nov 12 (TNN): Deposits of Rs 3 crore made by West Bengal BJP in a nationalised bank here eight days before the Prime Minister's demonetisation announcement have triggered a controversy. The last transaction, involving Rs 40 lakh, was made minutes before the PM's speech.

BJP has insisted that the events shouldn't be seen together; the cash deposits, it claimed, only proved compliance. The revelations, however, provided opposition parties enough ammunition to train their guns at BJP ahead of the November 19 bye-elections to one assembly and two Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Sources in the Indian Bank's Central Avenue branch confirmed that the deposits were made in four tranches. According to a report published in CPM mouthpiece 'Ganashakti' on Friday, BJP had, on November 8, deposited Rs 60 lakh and then Rs 40 lakh - all of it in neatly packed 500 and 1,000 rupee notes. While the first deposit was made to a savings account (No. 554510034) named Bharatiya Janata Party, West Bengal, in the afternoon, the second was made around 8pm. However, it is not clear how the bank was open at 8pm.

According to the same report, in a different current account (also maintained by the party's state unit) Rs 75 lakh was deposited on November 1 and Rs 1.25 crore on November 5.

"It's possible that BJP members were well aware of this ban and that is why they deposited huge amounts in banks across the nation to make their black money white," CPM state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra said.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh, however, ruled out any irregularities and said, "Normally, party funding happens through donations and cash forms a part of it. We issue receipts against the cash received. Copies of such receipts are available with the party for verification."

BJP vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said, "Unlike other parties, who can't reveal their source of funds, we generally carry out transactions through cheques. For cash transactions of such amounts in banks, one has to produce PAN details. The mention of proper PAN and other details during the transaction proves that it's a legitimate transaction."

Congress accused the Modi government on Friday of having "selectively leaked" information about the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, and demanded that the names of "individuals who benefited from the advance warning" be made public. Congress spokesman Anand Sharma said the Centre should provide a list of people who had invested over Rs 5 lakh in jewellery, forex and shares between October 20 and November 8 (date of ban).

He pointed to newspaper reports published well before November 8 to stress that information about the ban came out in public before the official announcement. He said that the ban had brought "financial chaos", and that the long queues at banks and absence of money at ATMs had spelt acute hardship for the poor.