Spokespersons: Shri K.C. Venugopal, Shri Jairam Ramesh and Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi: Shri K.C. Venugopal said- Whenever elections take place, the main weapon for BJP becomes Enforcement Directorate or Income Tax Department. We saw this in the Karnataka election. During the election itself, they raided more than 100 Congress candidates. Now, almost eight-nine months are over. Nobody knows about the follow-up of those raids. After the election, Congress got 136 seats and we are now ruling Karnataka. Now, in all these 5 states - Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana - public mood is very clear. In all the states, Congress is going to form the government. Whenever BJP sees the ground is slipping from under their feet, they have only one weapon with them ED.

For example, in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, our governments are so popular. The schemes of these two governments are reaching the common people of the two states and they are now praising the Congress Government’s welfare activities. Therefore, they (BJP) have only one target: to damage the image of the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, and to damage the image of the Chief Minister of Rajasthan. They are continuously targetting Shri Bhupesh Baghel, who has come from the grassroots level and has become one of the most popular Chief Ministers in the country. They (BJP) know that this election is going to be one-sided.

Shri Bhupesh Baghel Ji, a person coming from the OBC background and becoming the pride of the state. Wherever you media persons are going in Chhattisgarh, you are talking to the common people of Chhattisgarh, they praise Bhupesh Baghel government’s programmes. This is a clear-cut conspiracy headed by the Prime Minister of India, to tarnish the image of the Shri Bhupesh Baghel and the Congress Government, for winning this election. As the Code of Conduct is enforced in Chhattisgarh and all the states, agencies are there. At every doorstep of Congress leaders and bureaucrats, agencies are there. How can this money come without their knowledge? What stops you from taking action against this Mahadev App? Basically, it is operating from Dubai. It is clearly in your (Centre’s) domain. Why are you not taking action against this app? Therefore, on the other side…. Chhattisgarh government… we can narrate you how many actions, how many cases, how many arrests we have done in Chhattisgarh on this issue. Therefore, this is a clear-cut strategy to try to damage the image of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister.

Congress Party is categorically wishing to say that the people of Chhattisgarh will give a befitting reply on this malicious campaign of misusing ED. Interestingly, ED is saying… the ED’s official statement is saying some so-called arrested person has given a statement that Chief Minister took this money, but all this is ‘subject to investigating’. Without investigation, without inquiry, Enforcement Directorate is taking a statement of an arrested person and giving interview in public during the course of the election. Did this happen before? Therefore, this type of tactics is not going to serve the purpose. People are not fools; they know about the BJP’s tactics. Saturday, November 4, 2023