Reacting to the raids at his Jor Bagh residence, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram accused the Modi government of misusing the powers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), while the Congress called it “vendetta politics” on Opposition leaders.
Stating that he will neither bend nor break, Mr. Chidamabaram issued a statement to question the jurisdiction of the ED to carry out any searches.
“There is no FIR against me or my son in the Aircel-Maxis case. There is no predicate scheduled offence. Hence the ED has no jurisdiction. Yet the ED, at the instance of the government, continues to misuse its powers,” said Mr. Chidambaram.
He also said the Supreme Court on Friday had issued notices to the ED to respond to the petition that had challenged its jurisdiction to conduct any investigation in the so-called Aircel-Maxis case. He said the agency has to file its response by January 30.
The Congress said the BJP has been rattled by a series of political, administrative and judicial reverses and is using these raids to take away attention from its own failures.
“Stark truth is that Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi and his government are using agencies like ED/CBI as captive puppets to settle political scores and intimidate political opponents. In fact, ‘ Raid Raj’ has become the ‘DNA’ of the Modi government,” said Randeep Surjewala, head of the communication wing of the Congress. Mr Surjewala said the Congress would continue to raise its voice against the Modi government.
