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Journalism of Courage
A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested four people and searched the premises of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s political adviser and two Officers on Special Duty (OSDs), Baghel countered the central agency.
At a press conference at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in New Delhi, Baghel, who is the guest at today’s Express Adda, alleged that an attempt was being made to defame his government. “The BJP started this after losing the Jharkhand elections in July 2020. They were silent for two-and-a-half years, but have become active again as soon as the elections approach.”
Baghel hinted that the BJP was unnerved by his government’s pro-farmer policies and said, “We are the people of Chhattisgarh. We are not afraid of dying and going to jail.”
The case pertains to the Mahadev App racket, an online gaming platform that allegedly cheated people, where transactions close to Rs 5,000 crore are alleged to have been made. The ED conducted searches at around 10 locations, including the premises of Baghel’s political adviser Vinod Verma, and two OSDs in his office. A businessman based in Bhilai was also raided by the agency.
Baghel said, “Before the Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, a team of 250 IT people will conduct raids. “Wherever the ED comes, I-T (Income-Tax Department) goes, and wherver I-T comes, ED goes. The same sequence is going on here. What does the ED do? ED officials visit homes, confiscate mobiles, seize jewellery-cash and bank accounts. Then keep the whole family hostage for several days and ask political questions … Their aim is only to defame the government.”
Verma, meanwhile, today claimed he does not have a “single penny” of ill-gotten money. At a press conference in Raipur, he produced what he claimed were all the bills of jewellery items found in his house, except one gold ornament that was gifted to his wife. “But they still seized all the jewelleries saying the burden is on me to prove how I paid for these items. They even took cash which we received in envelopes as gift on my son’s wedding day. Therefore I am calling it a dacoity and a robbery,” PTI quoted Verma as saying.
Verma said he had a long stint as a journalist and became a politician a few years back. The ED allegations, he claimed, were based on a “manohar kahani (fictional news article)”. “I have nothing. The ED is claiming I am involved in laundering of Rs 65 crore, but I want to say I do not have a single penny (of ill-gotten money).”
The Congress has also set up a seven-member executive committee and appointed 23 general secretaries and 140 secretaries in the party’s Chhattisgarh unit. The executive committee of the state Congress comprises Lal Ji Chandravanshi, Shakun Dahariya, Ganga Potai, Shiv Netam, Surendra Pratap Jaiswal, Vishnu Yadav and Bhola Ram Sahu. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has also appointed party MP Ranjeet Ranjan, former minister Harak Singh, MLA Kiran Choudhry, and former MP Shamsher Singh Dullo AICC coordinators for the Rajasthan Assembly elections.
The BJP, meanwhile, hit out at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar over his book Memoirs of a Maverick, saying it reflects the thoughts and objectives of the Congress and the “ghamandiya (arrogant)” alliance — a reference to the INDIA bloc of Opposition parties.
BJP spokesperson addressed a press conference at the party headquarters in Delhi where he targeted Aiyar for calling P V Narasimha Rao the “BJP’s first prime minister” and alleged that the Congress leader made such a claim at the behest of the Nehru-Gandhi family. “Gandhi parivaar cannot tolerate anybody becoming prime minister outside the family even though the person belongs to Congress. That’s why Mani Shankar Aiyar was made to say that Rao belonged to the BJP, not the Congress. Whatever Mani Shankar Aiyar writes, speaks and projects, even though words are his, the idea and objectives are of Gandhi family,” Patra said.
On Twitter, the BJP tweeted PM Modi’s remarks from the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) celebrated the scientists of Bengal who contributed to the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission. Posting a video message from Sushmita Dev, the party tweeted, “On one hand, the nation salutes the accomplishments of our scientists. On the other hand, darkness hovers over the lives of wrestlers.@BJP4India’s effort to shield sexual offender BJP MP @b_bhushansharan has brought such shame upon our country.”
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