CHENNAI: DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin mocked the central agency as having joined the 'election campaign' following ED raids at minister K Ponmudy's properties.
"Governor R N Ravi is already conducting a poll campaign for us and now, the ED has joined (the poll scene) and I feel the election work for us will be easy," Stalin said.
"The DMK is not worried a wee bit," he said on the ED searches. Such an action by the ED was 'usual, ordinary and a drama' enacted to divert attention. Opposition parties joining forces has irritated the BJP and the ED searches reflected it.
That agency's raids were a tactic to divert attention from the objective of the Opposition meetings, held first in Patna last month, to be held now in Bengaluru and later in other states, Stalin alleged.
People, who were witnessing it all would give a fitting reply in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls, he said.
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday conducted raids at the premises of DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy and his MP son Gautham Sigamani in a money laundering case, official sources said.
The money laundering case is linked to alleged irregularities when Ponmudy was the state mining minister (between 2007 and 2011) and there were allegations of violation of quarry licence conditions leading to loss of about Rs 28 crore to the exchequer.
Recently, Ponmudy was acquitted in two other cases foisted on him during the AIADMK rule, Stalin said, adding 'he (Ponmudy) will face the case legally. 'India itself is facing a threat' and the opposition's meeting is to save the nation, he asserted.
Ponmudy is the second Minister in Chief Minister M K Stalin's Cabinet to face ED raids following Senthil Balaji, who was arrested last month in a cash-for-jobs case following searches.
The 72-year-old Ponmudy is an MLA from the Tirukkoyilur Assembly constituency in the Villupuram district while his 49-year-old son Sigamani is a Member of Parliament representing the Kallakurichi seat.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said, "We condemn the ED raids against Tamil Nadu Education Minister, Dr K Ponmudy, just before our crucial opposition meeting. This has become the Modi government's predictable script in order to intimidate and divide the opposition."
On his Twitter handle, Kharge further said surprisingly the BJP has 'suddenly' woken up to the need of putting together an alliance of ideologically opposed parties.
"All like-minded parties are united against the vendetta politics of the Modi Govt and shall not be bogged down by these cowardly tactics to trample upon democracy," Kharge said.
In a tweet, Aam Aadmi Party's top leader and Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal condemned the raids and accused the BJP regime of trying to break parties and scare everyone with ED.
But for ED, NDA would be left with no partners and many leaders in BJP would have also left. The BJP dispensation cannot 'scare or control' a great nation like India through the ED.
The CPI(M) and CPI were among the DMK's other allies who have condemned the BJP-led Centre for the ED raids.
Terming the raids 'cheap' activity, the CPI condemned the BJP for using the Central government's power to seek political mileage.
The TN police had filed a complaint to probe these charges of alleged corruption against the minister and those linked to him and the Madras High Court in June refused to stay the trial in this case after Sigamani approached it with a petition for relief.
The minister is accused of obtaining mining/ quarry licences for his son and other family members and the licensees are alleged to have quarried red sand beyond the permissible limit.
The High Court said that there were grounds to presume that the petitioner has committed the offence and hence the trial cannot be stopped.
DMK spokesperson A Saravanan told PTI, "This is political vendetta aimed at testing the DMK's resolve. " There has been no action from the Central authorities against the AIADMK leaders on graft cases such as the one involving the Gutka scandal, he alleged.