Chhattisgarh chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel on Friday said that he is expecting raids in the coming days by central agencies – Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax department (I-T) – for hosting Jharkhand’s ruling camp MLAs stay in the state amid BJP’s alleged attempts to poach them and oust CM Hemant Soren.
Baghel said it was important to ‘save democracy in Jharkhand’ and hence he had welcomed the MLAs in his state, despite being aware of the likely central agencies glare as an aftermath.
"Several MLAs from Jharkhand are staying here in Chhattisgarh, and we have welcomed them with open arms. The BJP is opposing this. My well wishers have informed me that very soon, raids by ED and I-T will begin here," Baghel told reporters.
“I knew that if the Jhakhand MLAs stay in Chhattisgarh, there will be ED, I-T raids in the state. But still, it was important to do so to safeguard democracy. The MLAs (from Jharkhand) could have gone anywhere, but they came here. So we have welcomed them,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“I knew that if the Jhakhand MLAs stay in Chhattisgarh, there will be ED, I-T raids in the state. But still, it was important to do so to safeguard democracy. The MLAs (from Jharkhand) could have gone anywhere, but they came here. So we have welcomed them,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The BJP-led Centre has been facing heat from Opposition parties for alleged misuse of the federal agencies amid recent raids in non-BJP led state governments, including in Bengal and Delhi.
On August 30, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal coalition in the eastern state flew its 32 MLAs to Raipur in a bid to thwart the BJP's possible attempt to poach them amid an ongoing political crisis in the state.
On Wednesday, four MLAs who are also ministers flew back to Ranchi to attend Thursday's cabinet meeting, while another MLA from Ranchi arrived here to join his colleagues in the resort.
(With inputs from agencies)