‘Being done to scare opposition’: Kharge criticizes raid on Shiv Sena MLA

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday slammed the BJP-led Central government for the Enforcement Directorate’s raid at locations linked to a Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction) leader. He said it showed a “dictatorial attitude” and was “being done purposely to scare” the Opposition.

“This is being done purposefully and to scare them. Once a leader joins the BJP party, they are given a clean chit; otherwise, that particular leader is corrupt,” Kharge told ANI, reacting to the ED raid.

The Enforcement Directorate has conducted raids at seven locations related to Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction) leader and MLA Ravindra Waikar and his partners in the money laundering case related to the construction of a luxury hotel on Jogeshwari, the agency said on Tuesday.

Mallikarjun Kharge said that the “misuse” of central investigative agencies has never happened during the previous Congress governments at the Centre.

“Jawaharlal Nehru has not done this kind of thing to his political opponents, nor have Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi or Narasimha Rao. Why does this happen during this regime? How do the political leaders become clean when they join you? This is an attitude of dictatorship,” Kharge said.

ED conducted the raid on a case pertaining to the construction of a star hotel at Jogeshwari by allegedly manipulating the land use conditions.The ED earlier in November registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Waikar in ‘Rs 500 crore 5-Star Hotel Scam’.

Waikar is accused of defrauding the BMC of Rs 500 crore by obtaining permission to build a five-star hotel on a plot reserved for a BMC playground. Waikar is a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, representing the Jogeshwari East Assembly Constituency. Waikar is a close aide of Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray.