The central government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party wanted to put Chhattisgarh Congress leaders under pressure by conducting Enforcement Directorate raids on their premises right before the all India Congress committee held its plenary in Raipur, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi said in the state capital on Sunday.
“The ED and IT raids are taking place on our leaders in Chhattisgarh for the historical session. This is because the government and the Chhattisgarh chief minister are doing good work and the state is being seen as a model across the country,” Gandhi said at a public rally to mark the conclusion of the three-day 85th plenary session.
The rally was also attended by Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, his Rajasthan counterpart Ashok Gehlot and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
“The BJP wants to show that the Congress government is not good for you, but you know what good work is being done. They send agencies and try to suppress us. They know we will win again in the upcoming elections, therefore, they are rattled and doing this,” she said.
The Union government is suppressing the media and the judiciary, Gandhi alleged. “They also suppress the voices of opponents in Parliament. Congress wants discussions on important issues, but Parliament does not even take our voices on record,” she said.
Gandhi also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and billionaire businessman Gautam Adani, and mocked the BJP slogan of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas (with everybody, everybody’s development)’ by calling it ’mitra ka saath, mitra ka vikas (with friend, friend’s development)’.
“Youths are jobless but airports, ports, railways and PSUs (public-sector units) are being handed over to Adani. Over 1 lakh labourers committed suicide in three years but Adani’s wealth increased by 13 times,” she said.
The BJP government in the Centre is not working democratically, Kharge said. “We are not free to voice the opinions of poor, backward , women and schedule castes and scheduled tribes in front of the government,” the Congress president said. “If we speak anything for the benefit of the people, our speech in Parliament was deleted from records. We have not used any derogatory words, we just asked questions about Adani,” Kharge said.
“The Modi government granted loans to Adani, which was public money deposited in LIC (Life Insurance corporation of India) and banks,” he added. “It was our money, our public sector and Adani is buying PSUs with our money at the behest of Modi.”
There has been an unprecedented rout of Adani Group stocks after US short seller Hindenburg Research accused it of accounting fraud and stock manipulation. The group has denied the accusations. The Prime Minister has not spoken on the issue.
Kharge further said that this was time to save the constitution of India. “If the constitution is not saved, the most sufferers will be backwards, minorities, tribals and women,” he said.
Reacting to the allegations, BJP leader Sachchidanand Upasane said: “ED is doing its job. This is a fact that Congress leaders are engaged in corruption and more scams will be exposed in the coming months.”
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