"This is link that's joining all opposition leaders:" Punjab BJP chief after IT raids at Congress MP's company premises
Dec 09, 2023
Panchkula (Haryana) [India], December 9 : The Punjab unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party strongly criticized opposition parties, particularly the INDIA bloc, in light of income tax raids conducted at the residences of its MP Dhiraj Sahu in Jharkhand, Bengal, and Odisha.
State party chief Sunil Jakhar asserted that 'corruption' serves as the common thread uniting leaders of the opposition.
Speaking to ANI on Saturday, the Punjab BJP Chief said that TMC leader Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha in cash for the query case, is just an "excuse" that the leaders of the opposition parties are joining together against the ruling BJP.
"Yesterday, around Rs 300 crores were recovered from the premises of Congress Rajya Sabha MP and the counting for the same is ongoing. The machines stopped working but still, the counting was going on. This is the link that's joining all the opposition leaders; Mahua Moitra is just an excuse..." Jakhar said.
He further said that the worries regarding the central agencies in the opposition are turning into reality.
"Their worries regarding ED and IT are turning into reality," he added.
In what is likely India's biggest cash recovery in income tax raids, at least Rs 200 crore in hard cash has been recovered so far during raids in three states since yesterday.
The Odisha-based liquor distillery group is linked to Congress MP Dhiraj Sahu. The counting of cash, however, is still going on, as per the IT official.
Dubey also claimed that the recovered money does not belong to one person only and 'suspected' that it could be possessed by the outgoing CM of Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel, the Jharkhand government or anyone else.
"The recovered money does not belong to one person alone. In the Bharat Jodo Yatra, you might have seen how he (Dhiraj Sahu) participated. Several photos went viral with Rahul Gandhi. This money can belong to Bhupesh Baghel (the former CM of Chhattisgarh) or can belong to the Jharkhand government, but as the PM said yesterday, 'every penny will be counted' and all the corrupt leaders of Congress will go behind bars," he added.
The raids were conducted at Boudh Distilleries Private Limited (BDPL) and entities linked to it in Odisha and Jharkhand.
Baldev Sahu Infra Pvt Ltd., which is a group company of Boudh Distilleries covered in the search, is linked to Dhiraj Sahu.
The raids were conducted at Bolangir and Sambalpur in Odisha and Ranchi and Lohardaga in Jharkhand, according to Income Tax officials.