In a significant statement, Shiv Sena (UBT) Member of Parliament, Sanjay Raut, on Tuesday, alleged that opposition leaders critical of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre may face money laundering charges or imprisonment ahead of the next year's Lok Sabha elections. Raut expressed concerns that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are being deployed to target and undermine opposition leaders.
He stated, "Whoever are their (BJP) opponents, on those leaders (either) they (the government) will impose a charge of money laundering or lock them up ahead of the elections." Raut cited recent examples to illustrate his point, mentioning the rejection of Manish Sisodia's bail plea and the arrest of a West Bengal minister, both of whom belong to opposition parties. Raut further emphasized that several prominent leaders from opposition parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Shiv Sena, have faced what he termed "false cases."
The summoning of Arvind Kejriwal, the national convenor of AAP, by the ED was a focal point of Raut's criticism. He questioned the impartiality of the investigations, asking, "Arvind Kejriwal gets summoned, but are all the people in the BJP innocent? If Kejriwal comes to your party, then he will become Harishchandra."
In a related development, the ED had summoned Kejriwal on November 2 for questioning in the Delhi Excise policy case, an issue in which he was earlier summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in April of the same year. However, Kejriwal was not named as an accused in the first information report (FIR) filed by the CBI on August 17, the preceding year. The Supreme Court, on the other hand, rejected Manish Sisodia's bail plea in cases related to alleged irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy case. The court directed the completion of the trial within six to eight months and allowed Sisodia to reapply for bail after three months if the trial proceeds slowly. The court also considered the aspect of a money trail totaling 338 crore in the case.