Madhya Pradesh: Congress-BJP at war as I-T raids at CM Kamal Nath’s close aides' premises continue for second day
BHOPAL: As the income tax department pre-dawn raids at premises of Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s close aides in Bhopal, Indore, and Delhi entered second day, a political war has broken between Congress and BJP in Madhya Pradesh on Monday.
As many as six premises in Bhopal and Indore related to CM Kamal Nath’s OSD Pravin Kakkar and Kakkar’s aides, besides the premises related to Nath’s private secretary RK Miglani in Delhi, are being raided by IT department teams from Delhi since 3 am on Sunday.
Chief Minister Kamal Nath, while maintaining that detailed reaction on the raids will only be cogent after entire picture pertaining to the ongoing raids becomes clear, added that sensing its defeat in the coming Lok Sabha polls, the BJP is trying to derive mileage in the elections through such operations. The BJP had indulged in similar tactics during the assembly polls in MP.
“Many political parties have faced such pressure tactics over the last five years, we too were ready for it. We want an impartial probe of everything and are hardly bothered about the tactics being used by the BJP,” said Nath.
Former Madhya Pradesh CM and Congress candidate for Bhopal Lok Sabha seat Digvijaya Singh accused the Narendra Modi government of misusing the enforcement agencies, including the enforcement directorate and the income tax department to harass the opposition parties and state governments headed by opposition parties.
Taking a dig at the BJP and PM Modi, Singh questioned the PM and BJP needs to tell people, about how do they pay the expenses of their big poll rallies, “does the BJP make payments for these rallies through cheques.”
Maintaining that the reverse countdown of the departure of Modi government has begun, Singh accused the central government of targeting its opponents out of the politics of vendetta.
While raising the issue of the I-T raids being undertaken without taking the local police and administration into confidence, Singh dubbed the development as the breach of powers vested to the states under the federal structure.
The former-CM also alleged that constitutional bodies and agencies are working like the affiliated organizations of the BJP, which is the biggest threat to the country’s democracy, constitution and federal structure.
Reacting to the ongoing raids, the BJP national vice president and former MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said “what is emanating from the raids speaks volumes about the games which were being played by the present state government in its first 100 days in power. The probe once completed will bring before people the shocking realties.”
Chouhan was particularly critical over the face-off between the state police and CRPF personnel during the raids in Bhopal. “The development which happened in Bhopal in the evening refreshed the memories of what happened with the CBI team during its probe into corruption cases in Bengal. Instead of cooperating with central forces guarding the IT raids, the local police have tried to create hurdles in the way of the CRPF, which is deplorable.”
Former MP minister and BJP’s chief whip in the Vidhan Sabha Dr Narottam Mishra, while training guns at the Congress in the wake of IT raids, questioned, “Congress needs to tell the people, whether the unaccounted money seized during the raids is the result of the charisma of its government or else the outcome of the transfer industry being run by its leaders in the state before the model code of conduct for Lok Sabha polls came into force.”
BJP national general secretary and ex-MP minister Kailash Vijayvargiya tweeted, “The recovery of black money of the transfer industry from the premises of the CM’s OSD and his aides has exposed that the Congress is the real thief. The silence maintained by Congress president reveals that heads gang of thieves.”
While slamming the face-off between the state police and CRPF personnel outside one of the raided premises in Bhopal on Sunday evening, Vijayvargiya said the misconduct of state police with CRPF, exposes that free and fair polls are not possible in MP. The ECI needs to appoint a special observer for the state.”
In another tweet, Vijayvargiya mentioned, “the Tabadla Express (transfer express) has derailed in MP. Though there hasn’t been any human casualty, it has certainly caused an estimated monetary loss of Rs 281 crores.”