Chidambaram’s House Raided. Congress Cries Foul, Blames Modi
Two facts of Indian politics:
Fact 1. All politicians are corrupt.
Fact 2. If you think some of them are not corrupt, see Fact 1.
India’s top financial crime investigation agency Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) today coducted raids at the Delhi and Chennai residences of former finance minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis case.
Similar raids were conducted in December last year also. It is alleged that Chidambaram did not follow the statutory procedures to approve a Rs 600-crore deal between telecom player Aircel and the Malaysia-based Maxis group in 2006.
According to a Hindustan Times (HT) report, the ED alleges that Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram received kickbacks for facilitating the investment to flow into India from the Maxis group.
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Although Chidambaram claims that nothing was found during the searches, the HT reported that the ED officials with knowledge of Saturday’s raids said the raids yielded incriminating documents and computer hard disks.
They also countered Chidambaram’s claims by saying that both Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED have filed FIRs in the Aircel-Maxis case.
Congress blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the raids. “Hurriedly conducted ED raids at the Delhi and Chennai residences of Chidambaram have once again exposed the continuing vicious vendetta unleashed by Modi government against Congress and other opposition leaders,” Congress said in a statement released today.
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The statement added that Modi and his government are using agencies like ED and CBI as captive puppets to settle political scores and intimidate political opponents.
“Our resolve to raise people’s issues and hold the government and Modi accountable on policy and promises become stronger with such spiteful and hostile onslaught to suppress the voice of opposition,” Congress said.
The Congress statement added it is now apparent that the Modi government is ruffled by a series of political, administrative, and judicial reversals and is using these raids to draw the attention of the country away from its abject failures.
Photo courtesy: Press Information Bureau
