Congress won't be scared of BJP's intimidation, says Pilot as he meets Baghel's jailed son

Pilot was talking to reporters outside Raipur Central Jail, where former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel's son Chaitanya is lodged following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate last week in an alleged liquor scam running into several hundred crore rupees.

Raipur: The BJP governments at the Centre and in Chhattisgarh are using probe agencies to intimidate the opposition and supress its voice, senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot said on Saturday.

He was talking to reporters outside Raipur Central Jail, where former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel's son Chaitanya is lodged following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate last week in an alleged liquor scam running into several hundred crore rupees.

"I met Chaitanya Baghel today. We have been repeatedly saying that BJP and its governments at the Centre and the state have been continuously trying to threaten and intimidate opponents. The action against Congress leaders and now against former CM Baghel's son proves Central and state investigative agencies have been trying to suppress the voice of political opponents of the BJP," Pilot alleged.

"We have full faith in the judiciary. The truth will come to the fore. Bhupesh Baghel ji has also said they will fully cooperate in the judicial procedure. But the action shows the ED, CBI and Income Tax etc are being used to target BJP's opponents, particularly Congress. Earlier too, action was taken against our leaders like MLAs Kawasi Lakhma and Devendra Yadav," Pilot added.

The BJP is trying to malign the image of Congress leaders, and a failed attempt was made through the ED to harass Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in this manner, he added.

"It has been proved in Chhattisgarh that at every turn they (BJP) want to divert attention from issues by using agencies. Whoever raises a voice against corruption, misgovernance, and about government filling the pockets of industrialists will have to face this consequence. The Congress is not going to get scared and our political struggle will continue," Pilot asserted.

After arresting Chaitanya Baghel, the Enforcement Directorate, in a statement, had said he "handled" more than Rs 1,000 crore worth of "proceeds of crime" generated from the alleged liquor scam and had used Rs 16.7 crore from it in his real estate project.

The alleged liquor scam, as per the ED, was orchestrated between 2019-22 when Chhattisgarh was under the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government, resulting in "massive loss" to the state exchequer, while beneficiaries of a liquor syndicate pocketed more than Rs 2,100 crore.

The ED in January arrested former minister and Congress leader Kawasi Lakhma, besides Anwar Dhebar, former IAS officer Anil Tuteja, Indian Telecom Service (ITS) officer Arunpati Tripathi, among others, for alleged involvement in the scam.