Congress accuses BJP of threatening voters with ‘ED’ action

Mumbai : Congress’ Maharashtra President Nana Patole on Monday accused the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party of allegedly threatening voters with “Enforcement Directorate action” as it faces imminent defeat in the Kolhapur North seat assembly by-elections slated for April 12.

He also slammed state BJP President Chandrakant Patil for his statements that some voters were getting money of Rs 1,000 transferred into their account via some online platforms.

Warning the voters, Patil said that if they took the money, he would write to the ED to probe who has deposited amounts of Rs 1,000 into their bank accounts and initiate a probe into the matter.

Patole said: “Now, Patil is directly threatening voters out of sheer frustration at the BJP’s defeat… Will the ED enquire into transactions of Rs 500-Rs 1,000? Will it be probed at the behest of the BJP?”

Patil asked the voters not to invite ED action by getting lured with such money transferred to their accounts through an online platform since they know from where the money has come.

The BJP has already been targeting its political opponents using the central investigating agencies, and now it has gone to the level of threatening the ordinary voters and commoners with the name of ED, Patole claimed.

He again slammed the ED for functioning as if it was a branch of the BJP and termed Patil’s threats as “arising out of sheer desperation at losing power in the state to Maha Vikas Aghadi in 2019”.

Ruling ally and Nationalist Congress Party chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase dismissed Patil’s allegations as baseless and said he was talking such a language as the MVA candidate is romping towards victory in the bypolls.

The by-election – necessitated by the death of Congress legislator Chandrakant Jadhav in December 2021 – is contested by his widow and Congress candidate Jayashree Jadhav against BJP’s Satyajit Kadam.

The MVA allies – Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress have targeted the BJP repeatedly for letting loose central probe agencies to scare and silence political opponents not only in Maharashtra but other non-BJP ruled states in the country.