Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called that the three centrals agencies — the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Income Tax Department — “jawans” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While addressing the public in the Jodhpur district of poll-bound Rajasthan on Monday, Kharge said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “first sends these three agency to campaign, then only the Prime Minister goes on poll campaign and delivers speeches”.
Kharge even asked, “Why are raids happening at the time of elections…Was your intelligence department sleeping for the past five years?”
Kharge’s statement came days after searches were conducted by the ED at the premises of Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra in Jaipur and Sikar and Congress candidate from the Mahwa constituency Omprakash Hudla in Dausa.
Kharge alleged that the agencies were trying to scare Congress leaders and asserted that the party was not going to be afraid. He said the agencies get active ahead of polls and target opposition leaders. “What their intelligence wings were doing for two-three years. Why is the action taken during elections,” he asked.
Kharge further alleged that PM Modi is thinking of the poor now only because it is election time. His statement came days after the Prime Minister announced the extension of the free grain distribution scheme for five years.
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In a swipe at PM Modi, Kharge said a king, chief minister or prime minister usually helps the poor, but one man is helping the rich after getting votes of the poor. The Congress chief then accused the Narendra Modi government of “troubling the poor and supporting his industrialist friends like Adani.”
“In his (Modi) era, the rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer,” he was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
Taking potshots at the Prime Minister, Kharge said “this maharaj” has been saying that he is from a backward community and a poor man has become the prime minister. “You did wrong things, your luck is good, even after doing wrong things some people supported you and you are the prime minister,” Kharge was quoted as saying.
Kharge added that the Narendra Modi government did not create jobs or set up anything new, but was selling properties to his industrialist friends.
Kharge made the remarks ahead of the elections in the 200-member Rajasthan assembly. The elections will be held in Rajasthan on November 25 and the results will be declared on December 3.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Updated: 06 Nov 2023, 07:59 PM IST