Union Minister has exposed Centre-CBI nexus: BJD

BHUBANESWAR: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Sunday strongly reacted to the statement of Union Minister for Human Resources Development Prakash Javadekar that the CBI will arrest some more BJD MPs and MLAs in connection with the chit fund scam.

The Union Minister’s statement has proved what is being discussed in public that the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre is misusing Central agencies with a political motive, BJD vice-president and Rajya Sabha member Prasanna Acharya told mediapersons here. Javadekar had made the statement during his two-day visit to the State recently.

Taking strong exception to such veiled threat by the BJP, Acharya asked whether the CBI reports to the Union Minister about its work regularly or is the Minister an authorised spokesman of the investigating agency. He asked whether the CBI arrests political adversaries as per the lists prepared by the Union Ministers.

Alleging that CBI is being used by the Centre to harass and intimidate political opponents of the BJP, Acharya said Javadekar’s statement has proved that it has now become an office of the BJP. Condemning such attitude of harassing political opponents by using Central agencies, the BJD leader said by interfering in day-to-day functioning of the investigating agencies, the Centre is not only diluting their independence, it is trying to influence the course of investigation. “The Centre is destroying the federal structure and the system based on the Constitution,” he said.Health and Family Welfare Minister Pratap Jena, party spokesperson Sasmit Patra and secretary Bijay Nayak were present.