Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday alleged that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI were being used to harass opposition leaders and break their unity. Speaking at the Lokmat National Conclave event, Yechury said, “We are not against investigation by the investigating agencies. But what is the conviction rate in all the cases initiated by ED in the last nine years? 0.5 percent? If you say those who have broken the law are being caught, then why are there no convictions? "He alleged, “ED and CBI are being used to harass opposition leaders, mislead them and break the unity of opposition leaders. The agenda is very clear." Yechury sarcastically said that if leaders against whom there were cases joined the BJP, those cases "disappeared."
The Lokmat Parliamentary Awards are given to outstanding Parliamentarians — four each from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha — for their contribution in eight different categories. The awards were conceived in 2017 to recognise and encourage positive work done by parliamentarians every year and were conferred during 2017-2019 to winners by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu. The awardees are selected by a distinguished jury headed by NCP president Sharad Pawar. Past winners include former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sharad Pawar, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sharad Yadav, Sitaram Yechury, Jaya Bachchan, Supriya Sule, Nishikant Dubey, Hema Malini, Bharti Pawar, Sushmita Dev, Meenakshi Lekhi and Rajni Patil.