Congress has hit out at the Centre for the ED raids on the premises of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's political advisor Vinod Verma and alleged that the raids were politically motivated and linked to the upcoming assembly elections.
Even as the ED closed in on the chief minister's establishment, Baghel put up a brave face and dubbed it as a «birthday gift» for him from the Centre. «Respected Prime Minister and Amit Shah… thank you very much for the 'priceless gift' you have given by sending ED to my political advisor and OSD on my birthday today», Baghel noted on 'X'.
The Congress establishment rallied behind the party CM and hit out at the Centre.
«Strongly condemn the ED raids on the staff members of Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel Ji. Completely out of the race in the upcoming elections, the BJP is trying its dirtiest tricks to intimidate and rattle the Congress.
However, we have the support of 3 crore Chhattisgarhis and such cheap tactics will not affect us, but they only show the BJP's desperation,» said KC Venugopal, AICC general secretary (organisation).
Party spokesperson Pawan Khera said: «The ongoing ED raids are a clear reaction to all the pre-poll surveys that have predicted a massive rout for the BJP. Our pro-people Congress government will not get bogged down by such threats.