New Delhi: A day after staging a show of strength in favour of Rahul Gandhi, who was grilled by the ED for over 50 hours in five days, the Congress on Thursday raised doubts on the credibility of the agency and wondered why it had taken no action against alleged corruption in the BJP ruled states.
“Why has the ED not taken any action in the alleged Vyapam education scam in Madhya Pradesh or the PPE kits scam in Assam or the charge levelled by the contractors’ association in Karnataka over 40 per cent commission in all government contracts, or recovery of huge quantities of drugs from Gujarat ports or the allegations of corruption in Goa government by former Governor SP Malik,” Congress spokesperson Prof Gourav Vallabh said.
Making a comparison, he said that Rahul Gandhi was questioned by the agency for long hours over five days in a case where no money had been laundered. “What credibility does an agency like ED have which is on a political witch-hunt but failing on its duty of investigating severe allegations and crimes,” he said.
Citing further instances, the Congress spokesperson said that the Chairman of the Sri Lankan state-owned Ceylon Electricity Board claimed before a parliamentary panel that PM Modi pressured Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to award a wind power project to the Adani Group.
“This is perhaps the first and only incident in the history of our country that allegations of such nature have been levelled against a PM. Why did the honourable PM want to pass on undue favours to a private individual? Why did the PM lower India’s pride by acting as a sales agent for a private individual? What was his compulsion? Why are ED and other agencies sleeping on this information,” said Prof Vallabh.
Also read: Assam floods: Rahul asks party workers to assist in rescue, rehabilitation operations
He went on to charge that as soon as the Modi government came to power in 2014, the SBI had drafted an in-principle agreement with the Adani group for a $1 Billion (Rs. 7,825 Crores) facility and brought in several banks worldwide to provide funding. “After constant protests, SBI backed off and scrapped the MoU. In 2020, news of another loan of Rs. 5,000 crores by State Bank of India to Adani’s Carmichael coal project in Australia became public. Pressure from investors like Amundi and AXA led to SBI’s loan being stuck,” said Prof Vallabh.
“There have been no further updates since last year about the loan status. This looks like a concerted effort by someone to provide a loan to the Adani group. Does this not warrant ED’s intervention to call upon and investigate the involved individuals or entities,” he said.
The Congress spokesperson alleged that the Centre had been targeting Rahul Gandhi through the ED as part of a political stunt which was an attempt to cover the government’s own failures. “All of the government’s claims have been exposed in the last 8 years- whether tall or false. The BJP government has been all about antics and substance. When its incompetence is showing itself across all spheres, it has yet again resorted to cheap tricks,” said Prof Vallabh.
“The questioning of Rahul Gandhi by the ED over the last few days is a clear case of maligning his reputation and a mere political stunt. All the central agencies have been reduced to pawns in the hands of the government. All these agencies have been queuing up to collect their blindfolds only to make a mockery of themselves,” he said.
“This is a series of events that the country is witnessing where a once reputed agency such as the ED can no longer be called by the Enforcement Directorate but is busy in taking Enforced Directives by the central government,” he said, referring to the ED’s grilling of Rahul Gandhi in the alleged National Herald money laundering case.
