NEW DELHI: "Malicious intent to seek revenge has blinded Modi,"
Congress today lashed out at the BJP government at the Centre for registering a series of "false" cases against its leaders across the country.
"This is the sinister hallmark of Modi government's style of functioning involving false cases registered against Shri
Ashok Gehlot and Shri
Sachin Pilot (Rajasthan), Shri
Virbhadra Singh (Himachal Pradesh), Shri P Chidambaram and his son (Tamil Nadu), Shri Ashok Chavan (Maharashtra), Smt. Sheila Dikshit (Delhi) and Shri Harish Rawat (Uttarakhand)," Surjewala said in a statement.
In the statement, the Congress leader made specific reference to the chargesheet filed on Friday by the CBI against the former chief minister of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, in connection with the alleged land acquisition scam in Manesar area of Gurgaon that caused a loss of around Rs 1,500 crore to farmers.
According to the chargesheet, the Hooda government had in 2004 issued a notification to acquire 912 acres of land to set up an Industrial Model Township (IMT) at Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula in Gurgaon. But before the acquisition could begin, around 400 acres were allegedly grabbed by builders who apparently threatened farmers that if they did not sell the land to them, it would be acquired by the government at meagre rates.
Following the chargesheet, Congress referred to the central investigative agency as BJP's "Captive Bureau of Investigation" and said that the cases against its leaders are an attempt to divert attention from key issues.
"These cases are also being used as a ploy to divert attention from the abject failure of Khattar government in Haryana, where law and order has broken down completely and anarchy prevails," Congress said in the statement.
In the statement, Congress alleged that Hooda was not the sole target of PM Modi's "politically motivated" campaign against its leaders and alleged that leaders from Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Tamilnadu have been on government's radar as well.
On Thursday, the ED filed a chargesheet in a Delhi court against former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Last month, Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram had accused the ED of "abusing power" at the behest of the government after his residence was raided by the agency in connection with the money laundering probe in the Aircel-Maxis case.
In December 2016, CBI had issued summon to Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat in connection with the probe into a sting operation that purportedly featured him.
Rawat had raised doubts over the intentions behind the summons and its timing and said that his attention was being diverted towards other issues "so that the Congress campaign in Uttarakhand could be adversely impacted".
In June 2016, when Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung ordered a probe to investigate the involvement of former chief minister Sheila Dikshit in the Rs 400-crore water tanker scam, the CM rubbished the allegations against her as "politically motivated".
The Congress veteran also questioned the timing of the probe saying it was ordered when preparations for crucial polls in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh were picking up momentum.
In February 2016, Maharashtra governor had given sanction to the CBI to prosecute former chief minister Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh housing scam case. Chavan had termed the governor's decision "politically motivates and biased".
In August 2015, CBI took over the probe in the ambulance scam of Rajasthan in which it re-registered FIR of the state police naming former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, ex-Union Minister Sachin Pilot, Karthi Chidambaram, Ravi Krishna among others as accused. A month later, CBI registered a criminal complaint against the leaders.
(With agencies inputs)
