The Enforcement Directorate has conducted raids on multiple properties linked to Congress leaders. The party has termed these raids in Chhattisgarh as “third-grade politics of vendetta and harassment” of PM Modi and asserted that the party will not be subdued by these “tactics”.
At a press conference, Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary said in his statements that this an “undeclared emergency”, just like the one the party used during the Income Tax department’s three-day survey operations against BBC India. This action had come a few weeks after the BBC released a two-part documentary titled ‘India: The Modi Question’, which was a controversial take on the issue.
The Income Tax department conducted fresh searches at various locations in Chhattisgarh, including at properties linked to some Congress party leaders. This is being done as part of the ongoing investigation of the coal levy money laundering case.
In the coal levy case, which the ED said was a “scam” and a “grand conspiracy”, nine persons were arrested in a case where extra money was charged on the transport of coal from the state by a cartel involving bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen.
Ramesh mentioned that the central department is being misused by the government at the center. As many as 17 Opposition parties have come together against the grant of powers given to the ED under the PMLA and are preparing to file a review petition against the previous judgement in the Supreme Court.
The ED raids come days before the three-day plenary session of the Congress party, who are currently in power in the state, which is organized in Raipur from the 24th February.
Chief Minister Bhupesh also in his statements accused the BJP of being “frustrated” with the reach and success of Congress party’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, and that the raids just “attempts to divert attention” away from the allegations against them.