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Kharge accuses PM Modi of using agencies to target opposition leaders
Mallikarjun Kharge said that before hitting the campaign trail,PM Modi first sends the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax department, and CBI to target the opposition
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday accused the “Modi government” of using central agencies to target the opposition.
Addressing a rally in Jodhpur in poll-bound Rajasthan, Kharge said that before hitting the campaign trail, Prime Minister Narendra Modi first sends the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax department, and CBI to target the opposition.
Calling ED, I-T department and CBI as the “jawans” of the Modi government, Kharge said that the prime minister is afraid because of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) defeat in Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh and therefore the agencies are trying to scare the Congress.
He questioned why action is not taken against BJP leaders despite them having money and property. He said that the BJP has a “washing machine” through which tainted people are made clean.
He said the agencies get active ahead of polls and target opposition leaders.
“What their intelligence wings were doing for two-three years. Why is the action taken during elections,” he asked. “Is this what happens in democracy? Did this happen during the times of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi? This did not happen even during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s time,” he said.
The ED recently conducted searches at the premises of Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra in Jaipur and Sikar and Congress candidate from the Mahwa constituency Omprakash Hudla in Dausa.
Addressing the rally, chief minister Ashok Gehlot said the ED and the Income Tax Department were being misused by the government to target opposition leaders instead of focusing on economic offenders.
He said the ED searched the premises of Dotasra, but did not ask him a single question. “They kept on sitting there,” he said, accusing the ED of harassing opposition leaders. Dotasra also addressed the rally.
The Congress leaders highlighted the schemes and programmes of the party-led government and expressed confidence of the party retaining power in the state.
Reacting to Kharge’s statements, BJP spokesperson Mukesh Pareek said ED actions are based on old cases and on the basis of evidence. “Congress alleges that the action taken is political but they [ ED] are working impartially... In all the cases ED conducted raid they have found irregularities. In 96% they are successful in finding evidence in the case. If the Congress leaders are innocent they shouldn’t worry,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kharge accused the Narendra Modi government of “troubling the poor and supporting his industrialist friends like Adani.”In a swipe at Modi, Kharge said a king, chief minister or prime minister usually helps the poor, but one man is helping the rich after getting votes of the poor. “In his (Modi) era, the rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer,” he said.
Taunting Modi, he said “this maharaj” has been saying that he is from a backward community and a poor man has become the prime minister.
“You did wrong things, your luck is good, even after doing wrong things some people supported you and you are the prime minister,” he said.
Today the BJP people are trying to snatch jobs, he said. He accused the government of rendering big public sector undertakings “bimaru” (sick) so that people do not get the benefit of the reservation for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and backward classes.
Kharge said the Narendra Modi government did not create jobs or set up anything new but was selling properties to his industrialist friends.
