New Delhi: In the latest of a series of raids on leaders of opposition parties, Income Tax officials late on Tuesday night searched the offices of Telugu Desam Party MP Galla Jayadev.
Galla, a multi-millionaire industrialist and the managing director of Amara Raja Group, is the MP from Guntur and is going to contest the election again on April 11.
Protesting along with other party leaders, Galla questioned why he was being “targeted”. “Why is the TDP being targeted? Deliberate attempt by PM to influence polls. Moving towards state of Emergency and fascism,” Galla stated.
Recently, several chief ministers have questioned the raids, calling it partisan action on opposition leaders. Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu criticised the “selective searches”, while Karnata CM H.D. Kumaraswamy accused the BJP of playing a “revenge game”.
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Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday, however, dismissed allegations of political vendetta levelled by the opposition parties. He said the revenue department acts objectively and conducts search operations only on the basis of material evidence.
The Election Commission has summoned officials from the Central Board of Direct Taxes to explain the raids amid allegations by the Congress that the ruling BJP was using enforcement agencies to target it during the poll season.
WB and AP chief ministers Mamata Banerjee and N. Chandrababu Naidu. Credit: PTI
15 opposition leaders raided in last six months
A report by the Indian Express has revealed that over the past six months, at least 15 searches have been conducted by the IT department on opposition leaders. During this time, just one BJP leader was raided. The party distanced itself from the Uttarakhand leader, the report said.
Of the 15 raids against opposition leaders and their associates or raids, five were in Karnataka, three in Tamil Nadu, two each in Andhra Pradesh and Delhi and one each in MP, UP and J&K.
Before the raids on Galla Jayadev, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath’s associates were raided early on Sunday (April 7). Earlier, in Andhra Pradesh, the premises of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam’s chairman and TDP Mydukur Assembly constituency candidate Putta Sudhakar Yadav and TDP leader and businessman C.M. Ramesh were raided on April 5. The TDP has been critical of the Narendra Modi government after it exited the NDA.
On In Tamil Nadu, DMK’s treasurer and Katpadi MLA Durai Murugan’s premises and institutions run by his son D.M. Kathir Anand were raided on March 29. The DMK has vehemently opposed the BJP, with its leader M.K. Stalin describing the Modi government as ‘fascist‘.
Just days before that, on March 27 and 28, IT officials conducted raids in Karnataka, where the JD(S)-Congress alliance is in power. Karnataka minor irrigation minister C.S. Puttaraju was the target of the raids. Also targeted were the premises of associates of Kumaraswamy’s brother, public works department minister H.D. Revanna.
According to the Indian Express report, the IT department has searched the premises of Aam Aadmi Party leaders Kailash Gahlot and Naresh Balyan over the last six months.
In Uttar Pradesh, BSP chief Mayawato’s aide Net Ram was raided in March.