The Opposition cried foul over the CBI and Income-Tax raids on Tuesday with former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and RJD leader lalu Prasad describing them as political conspiracies to “silence voices of dissent” even as the BJP rejected the charge and claimed that it was “the day of accountability for the corrupt.” Union Minister Piyush Goyal claimed that the BJP Government never comes in the way of law and that investigation agencies work independently.
“After all, it is not us who demanded reopening of fodder scam cases. The Supreme Court gave the verdict,” he said.
While lalu Prasad put up a brave face saying he will continue to fight against “fascist forces” and was “not scared of empty threats,” Chidambaram reacted to the CBI raids asking whether he should “stop writing against the Government.”
Chidambaram’s son Karti, who was the target of the raids, said he had not done anything wrong and alleged a political vendetta behind the CBI raids against him in connection with the INX Media case.
“They have not seized any documents and cannot prove any charges against me. I have not done anything wrong,” Karti told reporters at Chennai, reacting to the CBI raids at several places linked to his father and him.
Claiming that the Central Government was acting out a “political vendetta”, he said the raid was being held to “silence the voice” of his father.
Chidambaram issued a strong statement in response to say that the Government was using the CBI and other agencies to target his son.
“The Government, using the CBI and other agencies, is targeting my son and his friends...The Government’s aim is to silence my voice and stop me from writing, as it has tried to do in the cases of leaders of Opposition parties, journalists, columnists, NGOs and civil society organisations,” he said.
“There is no allegation against me,” he added.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee termed as “political vendetta” the raids on Chidambaram’s son and lalu and said she had discussed the issue with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Mamata, whose party leaders are facing a probe in the alleged Saradha chit fund scam and the alleged Narada bribery scam, targeted the Modi Government in a veiled manner, saying, “If you do not like someone, then you send CBI, then put him in jail.”
Meanwhile, without naming Chidambaram’s son, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, “People in high places buying assets via shell firms is not a small matter.”
In his characteristic style lalu dared the BJP to put him down through raids. “BJP mein himmat nahi hai ki lalu ki awaz ko daba sake...lalu ki awaz dabayenge to desh bhar me karoron lalu khare ho jayenge...Main gidarbhabhki se nahi darne wala hoon (BJP does not have the courage to stifle my voice...If it tries to silence one lalu, crores of lalus will come forward. I am not scared of empty threats),” he said in a series of tweets.
lalu rapped the BJP in yet another tweet for “sensing an opportunity to destabilise the Grand Alliance Government in Bihar” and asserted that the coalition was “intact”.
“Do not be tempted, the alliance is intact. Many more parties with a common ideology are going to join hands with us. I am not scared of the BJP letting loose the Government machinery on me,” he wrote on the microblogging website Twitter.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal rejected Chidambaram’s charge that he was being targeted for his columns critical of the Government and claimed that the issue was why beneficiaries of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) gave “money to the firms owned by his son”.
The former Union Finance Minister’s columns “did not exactly set the Yamuna on fire”, Goyal told reporters and took a dig at Chidambaram, saying that he will be accountable for his “son stroke.”
Senior Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi demanded that the Nitish Kumar Government order a probe into the allegations of “shady land deals” against RJD supremo and his family members.
“The Central agencies have acted on the alleged benami properties that were in the public domain for the past 40 days. Now, it is the turn of the Nitish Kumar Government to act against his ally, RJD leader lalu Prasad and his two Minister sons, who have made land purchases in Bihar,” he told reporters at Patna.
The BJP leader alleged that Kumar did not take any action against lalu and his sons as he fears losing power, which he cannot afford.
“Kumar compromised with principles, ideology, good governance the day he joined hands with lalu Prasad,” he said.
He alleged that lalu’s two Minister sons have amassed benami properties worth over Rs 1,000 crore through various shell companies like Delight Marketing Pvt ltd, AK Infosystems Pvt ltd and AB Exports Pvt ltd in Bihar.