Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has slammed the BJP-led NDA government at the centre for using investigation agencies against the political forces opposed to it. Stalin condemned the recent raids conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at the premises of Electricity Minister V.Senthilbalaji on Tuesday. He termed the raids as an act of political vendetta and said that the BJP’s political ploy of resorting to backdoor threats would not materialize.
Stalin questioned the need to conduct raids at the minister’s chamber in the State Secretariat and sought to know whether the BJP wanted to show that it could conduct raids at the Secretariat or to issue threats by showing it. This showed that the investigating agencies are functioning with political motives, he added.
The raids, happening two days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to the State where he criticized the ruling DMK, were seen as an affront on the principles of federalism. The Secretariat is an important place, like the brain of the State government.
Stalin referred to the 2016 IT raids during the AIADMK regime at the then Chief Secretary P.S. Rama Mohana Rao’s house and his chamber at the State Secretariat. He said it went against the State autonomy. The issue is not what happened to whom, but where it took place is important…the BJP government has been continuously setting the wrong precedence, he added.
The investigations come amidst a deepening political crisis in the state. The opposition parties have accused the ruling party of using the state’s machinery to stifle dissent and to settle political scores against its opponents. The BJP has strongly dismissed these allegations.
