The Income Tax Department raids on the premises of senior Samajwadi Party leaders have intensified politics with the Samajwadi Party putting up posters, alleging that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was fighting the coming assembly elections with the support of Central Bureau of Investigation, Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate.
A massive hoarding put up outside the SP office on Vikramaditya Marg in Lucknow late on Sunday night says, “Samajwadi Party ke paas hai Akhilesh aur BJP ke pass hai IT, CBI aur ED” (Samajwadi Party has Akhilesh while the BJP has CBI, ED and IT).
Samajwadi Party leaders alleged that the raids by taxmen at the offices and residences of party leaders were politically motivated ahead of the 2022 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
“These raids are meant to harass Samajwadi Party leaders. If the leaders had done something wrong, they should have been punished. Why was the IT department waiting till December end, that too when the elections are round the corner, to conduct the raids,” SP state president Naresh Uttam told this reporter on Monday.
“The Income Tax Department has jumped into the election fray (to side with the BJP government). After IT we are waiting for more such raids by the ED and the CBI. Our party president Akhilesh Yadavji has said that now ED and CBI will also conduct raids on the residences of our leaders. This only indicates that the BJP is afraid of the popularity of Akhilesh Yadav because the way crowds have gathered to greet the leader is indication enough that the BJP government is on its way out. The Samajwadi Party will make it a big issue out of these uncalled for actions. We will go to the people and highlight how the BJP persecutes its political opponent,” the SP leader said.
Samajwadi Party leaders whose premises were searched included Akhilesh Yadav’s close aide Jainendra Yadav, whose Vishal Khand (Gomti Nagar) residence in Lucknow was searched on Saturday. The others premises raided by the taxmen were those of SP spokesperson Rajiv Rai (Mau district’s Sahadatpura premises) and contractor and SP chief’s confidant Manoj Yadav whose premises at Punjabi Bagh area of Mainpuri were searched. Soon after the news about the IT raids surfaced on Saturday, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party regime was misusing Central agencies.
Sources claimed that the Income Tax Department officials could lay their hands of a meagre Rs 17,500 in cash from the residence of Jainendra Yadav while in Mau, the IT raid that started on Saturday continued for two days.