Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday launched a veiled attack on the BJP-led central government, accusing it of misusing the central investigative agencies to suppress the voice of the opposition ahead of the Lok Sabha Polls.
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While reacting to the arrest of Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money-laundering case, Yadav questioned the credibility of probe agencies and institutions saying that an organisation which should work to ensure proper law and order in a democracy is working to please the ruling BJP.
The SP chief, however, without taking any name took a jibe at the previous governments (Congress-led UPA) of using these agencies as a tool to suppress the opposition parties. He said that everyone knows that whoever holds the power uses these agencies. He said that since the BJP is the ruling faction, it is using the agencies ten times more, while previously also, whoever was in power used these institutions.
{{/usCountry}}The SP chief, however, without taking any name took a jibe at the previous governments (Congress-led UPA) of using these agencies as a tool to suppress the opposition parties. He said that everyone knows that whoever holds the power uses these agencies. He said that since the BJP is the ruling faction, it is using the agencies ten times more, while previously also, whoever was in power used these institutions.
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"These are govt institutions, they'll do what the govt wants. This is the question that in a democracy, the institutions work as the instrument, and they're working as an instrument to please the BJP... Whoever holds the power uses these institutions. Previously also, whoever was in power used these institutions and now the BJP is doing it ten times more. What remains the credibility of these institutions?..." news agency ANI quoted Yadav as saying.
Interestingly, Akhilesh Yadav's SP is a part of the opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc formed to unitedly contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls against the ruling BJP-led NDA.
Read here: Kejriwal kingpin of Delhi liquor scam, money trail traced to Punjab, Goa elections: ED
In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party and the Congress have decided on a seat-sharing arrangement, according to which the Congress will contest 17 seats and the Samajwadi Party will field its candidates on 63 seats. The SP has given the Bhadohi seat to its INDIA bloc partner Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Kejriwal who was arrested by the probe agency amid much chaos on Thursday night was produced before the magistrate in Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court on Friday where the ED sought a 10-day custody of the AAP leader alleging that Kejriwal was the kingpin and the key conspirator of the Delhi liquor policy scam.
(With inputs from agencies)