"Strengthening BJP instead of country": Congress' Harish Rawat criticises alleged misuse use of central agencies

The remarks by the Congress leader were made after Union Minister of State Pankaj Chaudhary informed the Parliament on March 18 that ED has registered a total of 193 cases against former politicians in the last 10 years and has gotten a conviction against only two of them.

"About the answer given in Parliament, it said that of all the cases they registered against politicians, such as MPs and CMs, they could only get substantial proof against only 2 of them but our question is about misuse (of ED). The organisation shouldn't be used for political purposes, their integrity should be kept intact," Rawat told ANI.

He further underlined that the agencies and the rights of investigation were given by the Congress-led government, but decried that today these agencies are working to strengthen the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) instead.

"The rights they (the Union government) are using were given to them by the Congress government. All these institutions were set up by the Congress government. But today, these organisations are working to strengthen the BJP instead of the country. We are concerned about the integrity of these institutions," he added.

When asked about the inception of the central agency, established in 1956 by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Rawat said, "Nehru established all the organisations that are our pride today and which are being misused, like ED and other investigation agencies. The agencies which are good for the country he and Congress made them."

According to the reply given by MoS Chaudhary, ED lodged 32 cases in 2022-23, the highest ever in a single year. Additionally, 27 cases were lodged in 2020-21 and 2023-24, and 26 in 2019-20 and 2021-22.

For the two convictions, one of them took place in 2016-17, the second was in 2019-20. (ANI)