New Delhi: Calling Monday’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids at the residence and offices of Chhattisgarh Congress leaders in connection with the alleged coal levy scam a “low-level act”, state Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel hit back at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre, saying “They (the BJP) are scared”. The raids come ahead of the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) plenary session in Raipur, scheduled to begin Friday.
On Monday, the ED conducted co-ordinated searches in at least 14 locations in Raipur and Bhilai, including at the residences of Congress MLA Devendra Yadav, Chhattisgarh Congress treasurer Ramgopal Agrawal and state Congress spokesperson R.P. Singh.
The ED and Income Tax departments have alleged that since the Baghel government came to power in 2018, state government officials in Chhattisgarh have extorted an illegal levy of Rs 25 on every tonne of coal transported by buyers from mines in Chhattisgarh by tweaking government policies and establishing a “well-oiled network”. Nine people, including state administrative service officer Saumya Chaurasia, a close aide of CM Baghel, have been arrested till now in the case. The extorted money was allegedly used by Chaurasia to fund staycations at the Taj Rishikesh hotel, renovate her farmhouse, buy jewellery and Apple products.
Addressing a press conference in Raipur Monday, Baghel said, “In Lok Sabha the PM said ‘main kitne logon pe bhari padta hoon (I weigh on many people)‘, but by not speaking on Adani (in the spotlight over an alleged stock manipulation and accounting fraud), it has been proved that Adani is ‘bhaari’ on the BJP and the Union government.”
He added: “The success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra under Rahul Gandhi has scared the BJP. Everyone is looking at Chhattisgarh because the plenary will be held here. This plenary will create the roadmap for 2024 Lok Sabha and the 2023 state polls. That is scaring the BJP.”
In Delhi, Congress General Secretary and MP Jairam Ramesh and spokesperson Pawan Khera too hit out at the BJP. Speaking at a press conference, Ramesh said that under the Modi government, the ED has stood to mean ‘Eliminating Democracy’.
“Between 2004 and 2014, the ED had conducted 112 such raids. In the eight years of the Modi government, it has increased to 3010. Of these raids, 95 percent have been on opposition leaders”, Ramesh said.
He further listed, what he claimed to be the number of times members of each major opposition party in the country have faced ED raids — the Congress 24 times, the Trinamool Congress 19 times, the Nationalist Congress Party 11 times, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) eight times, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam six times, the Biju Janata Dal six times, the Rashtriya Janata Dal five times, the Bahujan Samaj Party five times, the Samajwadi Party five times, the Telugu Desam Party five times, the YSR Congress Party three times, the National Conference twice, the Peoples Democratic Party twice and the CPI(M) twice.
Party leaders also raised the Adani issue again, asking when the Modi government will investigate the allegation of financial fraud and stock market manipulation against the conglomerate.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge too came out in support of his party colleagues in Chhattisgarh.
“If the Modi government has even a modicum of honesty then it should investigate its ‘best friend’ (a reference to businessman Gautam Adani) on his mega scams. We will face this attempt at trampling upon our democracy with full force,” he said.
हम इन कायराना धमकियों से डरने वाले नहीं हैं।
"भारत जोड़ो यात्रा" की अपार सफलता से भाजपा की बेचैनी दिखने लगी है।
मोदी जी में ज़रा भी ईमानदारी है तो अपने "परम मित्र" के महाघोटालों पर रेड करें।
लोकतंत्र को कुचलने के इस प्रयास का हम डट कर सामना करेंगे।
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— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) February 20, 2023
Also read: In Chhattisgarh, Bastar now poll battlefield as BJP targets Baghel govt over party workers’ deaths
‘We are prepared’
The 85th AICC plenary, which will host about 15,000 Congress delegates in Nava Raipur is scheduled to be held from 24-26 February. The session is expected to ratify the Udaipur Nav Sankalp Resolution, passed by the party at the Chintan Shivir in the Rajasthan town in May last year. It is also scheduled to ratify Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s presidency after he was elected to the post last year. The plenary is also likely to see the formation of the new Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the party, under Kharge.
Stating that the raids were an attempt to botch up preparations for the plenary, Baghel said that his party had been expecting such an intervention by the ED.
“Everyone knew that these raids would happen before the plenary. But we are prepared. No matter how much BJP tries, our plenary will be successful. This raid will not scare us. This is a politically motivated act because of which our organisational leaders and our MLAs have been raided. The Congress didn’t get scared of the British, what makes the BJP think we’ll be scared of them? The country now knows that these raids are only political,” said.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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