The Congress has come to defend former finance minister P Chidambaram in the wake of raids by Enforcement Directorate (ED) at his Delhi and Chennai residences. The party said the raids have once again exposed the “vicious vendetta” unleashed by the Narendra Modi government against Congress and other Ppposition leaders.
The party said the Centre is using agencies like ED and CBI as captive puppets to settle political scores and intimidate political opponents. “In fact, ‘Raid Raj’ has become the ‘DNA’ of Modi government,” said Congress’s chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Srujewala here on Saturday.
The party reiterated that it will not be cowed down or bow in face of such malicious and willful attempts to “browbeat, bulldoze or overawe”. “Our resolve to raise people’s issues and hold the government and Prime Minister accountable on policy and promises become stronger with such spiteful and hostile onslaught to suppress the voice of Opposition,” Surjewala said. “It is now apparent that the BJP government is ruffled by a series of political, administrative and judicial reversals and is using these raids to draw the attention of the country from its abject failures,” he added.
Chidambaram said ED could not find nothing from his houses and the panchnamas speak for themselves. “There is no FIR against me or my son in the Aircel-Maxis case. There is no predicate scheduled offence. Hence the ED has no jurisdiction. Yet the ED, at the instance of the government, continues to misuse its powers. I belong to the Opposition party. Let the government misuse the ED. I shall neither bend nor break and I shall continue to speak and write,” he added.