NEW DELHI: A day after exit polls in five states that witnessed elections failed to indicate an emphatic BJP performance, the Congress on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of directing the Central investigation agencies to go after opposition leaders to harass them.
“Those in power appear to be nervous over the exit polls… Therefore they are sending Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax officials after them,” Congress leader Kapil Sibal alleged after former party chief Sonia Gandhi reviewed the fallout of the raids on the premises of her son-in-law and businessman Robert Vadra and his associates.
At the press conference addressed by Ahmed Patel and Randeep Surjewala as well, Sibal flagged the alleged ill-treatment of Vadra’s associate Manoj Arora and his family in Noida. He claimed the action was illegal as there was no first information report (FIR) against Arora, adding the family had approached the chief justice seeking protection of their human rights.
Sources, however, said the party was concerned over the ED action but decided to adopt an aggressive posture. This, they said, was the reason behind fielding veterans like Ahmed Patel and Sibal to defend Vadra. Congress strategists hope that riding on the success in the Assembly polls, the party would also return to power at the Centre in 2019 and then deal with their rivals accordingly.
The ED searches, however, continued for the second day against three persons linked to Vadra with sources saying the action was on the basis of two criminal FIRs filed by it in the past. “Directorate of Enforcement is conducting PMLA investigations in certain cases relating to ownership of undisclosed assets abroad,” the ED said but did not identify the cases or the accused.