ED’s action on Hasan Mushrif: MVA slams Modi govt for ‘misusing central agencies’

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has sharply reacted to the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s ‘search operation’ conducted at the home of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Hasan Mushrif in Kolhapur on Saturday morning

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has sharply reacted to the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s ‘search operation’ conducted at the home of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Hasan Mushrif in Kolhapur on Saturday morning.

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The MVA has termed this move an attempt to suppress the voice of opposition by ‘misusing the central agencies’. The Maharashtra Congress has announced that they would raise this issue during a protest organised outside the Raj Bhavan on Monday. The protest is organised to raise the question as to why the Modi government and central agencies do not act against Adani.

Some of the prominent MVA constituents have reacted in unison and called the ‘search operation’ a misuse of the central agencies. Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule said, “The action against the leaders from the opposition parties is being taken by the central agencies out of political vendetta. The CBI and ED are the premium agencies in the country and have worked as independent agencies for years. If these agencies are used to take political revenge then it is not allowed in the constitutional framework.”

A team of ED officials raided the residence of NCP MLA Hasan Mushrif again on Saturday morning amid suspicion of financial misappropriation in the Santaji Ghorpade sugar factory he controls.

Sanjay Raut has termed ED’s case against Mushrif as fake, sham and bogus, “In the backdrop of the action against the sugar factories related to Hasan Mushrif, I am going to submit a list of other sugar factories (with irregularities) to deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Would they initiate an action against them? The ruling parties have not been able to digest the pace at which the MVA is marching politically. It is an attempt to create a counter perspective against us after our victory in the Kasba Peth bypoll. The cases registered by ED are fake, sham and bogus.”

Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said, “The Modi government has been turning a blind eye towards the scam by Adani industries. ED has initiated action against political leaders like Hasan Mushrif and Sadanand Kadam, but not a single word against the industrialist who has put public money in jeopardy. Raj Bhavan will be gheraoed after the morcha from Girgaum to Raj Bhavan on Monday evening. Our party is protesting across the country for the action against Adani. We will mainly condemn the misuse of the central agencies.”

Patole added that central agencies (CBI and ED) could not have been able to prove the guilt in any of the cases it registered against political leaders. “It arrested former home minister Anil Deshmukh in the alleged ₹100 crore scam. Param Bir Singh (former Mumbai police commissioner) had alleged the scam, but when asked, he quoted the scam amount of around ₹1 lakh. The opposition leaders are being targeted by levelling false allegations. The Modi government at the Centre is finishing democracy.”

BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, however, has a different take on this. He said, “After Income Tax raids in 2019 for misappropriation of funds, Mushrif approached the I-T for settlement at a lower amount of the tax. This means the NCP leader has the admitted scam.”