Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal has accused the Modi government of using the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as a tool for political vendetta, claiming that the agency appears to be acting under a “monthly assignment” from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to target senior Congress leaders and their families.
In a post on X, Venugopal wrote, “It seems the Modi-Shah duo has given the ED a monthly assignment to go after the Congress senior leadership and their family. The latest ED action against Mr. Robert Vadra is pure political vendetta—yet another futile attempt at intimidation.”
The remarks come as the ED on Friday conducted fresh raids at the residence of Chaitanya Baghel, son of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, in connection with the alleged multi-crore liquor scam in the state.
Reacting to the early morning raid, Bhupesh Baghel’s office posted on X, “ED has arrived. Today is the last day of the Assembly session. The issue of trees being cut in Tamnar for Adani was supposed to be raised today. ‘Saheb’ has sent the ED to the Bhilai residence.”
The ED’s actions are part of a wider probe into suspected money laundering and illegality in liquor trade, which allegedly saw the generation of over Rs 2,000 crore in unaccounted funds between 2019 and 2022. In March this year, the agency had seized Rs 30 lakh from the residence of Bhupesh and Chaitanya Baghel during raids conducted across 14 locations in Chhattisgarh.
Meanwhile, political tensions flared in the Chhattisgarh Assembly on Thursday as Congress MLAs were suspended for disrupting the question hour by raising slogans. Speaker Raman Singh condemned the behaviour, stating, “Today was a day that hurt the prestige of the state… Even after my warning, they did not move out of the Assembly and I had to adjourn the question hour. I hope the traditional values of Chhattisgarh Assembly will be held high.”
The Congress has maintained that the ED’s actions are politically motivated and intended to suppress opposition voices ahead of key political battles.
