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With the I.N.D.I.A coalition of Opposition parties set to meet for the third time in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1, its prime movers — Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal, Hemant Soren and others — are battling fresh cases, summons and raids against their cabinet and party colleagues by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with alleged scams.
While two of I.N.D.I.A’s eastern allies — West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Bihar’s Nitish Kumar — are facing governance problems — blasts and daylight murders.
Around 25 people have been killed since May in three blasts across districts in West Bengal. Ahead of the crucial meeting of the Opposition, the state witnessed an explosion on August 27 allegedly in an illegal cracker factory in North 24 Parganas district killing nine.
Similarly, in Bihar, there were incidents of a station house officer (SHO) being shot in the forehead while trying to stop a gang of cattle smugglers in Samastipur. In another instance, a journalist of Dainik Jagran was killed outside his house 10 days ago.
Even though the Congress leaders are tight-lipped over such incidents, some senior sources within the party will take up the governance issues, the “high handedness” of the central agencies, especially the ED, apart from the seat-sharing formula at the Mumbai meet.
Senior Opposition leaders have called such attempts by the ED the result of “influence” the I.N.D.I.A coalition has on the people.
Scams, Summons and Raids
As the assembly elections are getting closer, the regional ruling parties of some states and the senior leaders of Congress, are facing more investigations by the central agencies.
Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and members of his Jharkhand Mukti Morcha are now being probed for stone mining scam and alleged land deals.
Meanwhile, Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of Trinamool Congress, and nephew of Bengal’s chief minister Mamata Banerjee, has been named in several scams in the state. He and his family members have been summoned by the ED and CBI in connection with cattle, coal, teacher recruitment scams and money laundering cases regarding his company — Leaps and Bounds.
Bihar’s deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav has been named in the cash-for-jobs scam. Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel’s government is facing a probe in connection with the excise and mining scams, while Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is already battling arrests of his cabinet colleagues and officers in connection with the excise scam.
‘Selective’ investigation
The senior Opposition leaders have called the fresh summons and raids as “intimidation tactics” and “ways to perturb” them before a crucial meeting.
Sushmita Dev, senior Trinamool Congress leader, told News18, “The ED and CBI are into selective investigation. The ED has become a political tool of the Modi government. The investigation is almost equal to punishment as they keep summoning the senior politicians repeatedly but they will delay the charge sheet. The central agencies have zero credibility and lowest conviction rate. People are not fool, they see and understand everything now”.
“Why doesn’t the ED call Suvendu Adhikari, Bengal’s leader of Opposition or Himanta Biswa Sarma who were named in Saradha chit fund scam? Anyone who is trained, but a member of BJP will not face any probe. BJP is now worried about the Opposition parties coming together. They know that they have approximately 30% of votes, while the Congress has around 20%, but the rest of the votes are with regional parties. So, they are scared. They know that they are in trouble in 2024,” she further said.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury said several issues will be discussed, and a press conference will be held after the meeting.
JD-U’s KC Tyagi also said with the elections nearing, the central agencies are carrying out raids and summons more frequently.
Another senior leader of JDU, who did not wish to be named, said, “Apart from the seat-sharing formula, we will also discuss strategies to deal with such summons and raids. For now, all senior politicians are taking the legal route, and we will also fight it politically”.
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