Raipur: As Chhattisgarh goes to polls, the issue of corruption has taken centre stage in the election campaign. While Congress has targeted BJP on the issue of electoral bonds, the saffron party is hitting out at the grand old party regarding the latter's alleged involvement in the Mahadev betting app case.
Congress state spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla alleged that it is a known fact that ED and IT work as "BJP agents". "After failing to find anything despite investigating for two and a half years, ED finally wrote a letter to the EOW and filed a case against Bhupesh Baghel. People of Chhattisgarh know this is a conspiracy. BJP has sent ED, CBI and IT as recovery agents," he said.
According to Shukla, the central agencies conduct raids and then extort money from industrialists. "Not only this, apart from raids, a new method of taking bribe has been devised. This is, first give money in electoral bonds, after that you will be given the contract. This is a new form of corruption. The record has been set by BJP. We will go to the public on this issue," he said.
Refuting Congress's allegation, BJP state spokesperson Rajeev Chakraborty said, "The Congress party is in trouble over the Mahadev betting app case. This is only the initial stage of the investigation and as the investigation progresses, everything about the case will be revealed. All the layers of corruption will be exposed. Congress should give an answer to this. Every party has got funds from electoral bonds so there is no malice in it. In the past there used to be various kinds of scams in cash transactions but we have banned it all. We are completely transparent. Our accountability is towards the court and the public."
Political expert Utchiya Sharma said, "BJP has already cashed on the betting issue in the Assembly elections and now, I do not think this will work in the Lok Sabha elections. They have their own issues and different manifesto, so I don't think this card will work for the second time. The former secretary has written a letter, I also got to see it through the media. This is a matter within the party. Allegations of embezzlement have surfaced, which are very serious allegations."