Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday strongly criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after his son was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged liquor scam and said that the saffron party is trying to suppress him, but he will not get suppressed.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Baghel, who was Chhattisgarh's Chief Minister from 2018 to 2023, said it has been an old policy of the BJP to defame Congress leaders, but asserted that the grand old party has always fought for the interest of the country.
"So, the entire Gandhi family was targetted in order to defame them. But the entire nation and country know that this is a family which makes sacrifices for the nation... They themselves cannot do anything, so they want to weaken others. So, they arrested my son. They are trying to suppress me, but I will neither get scared nor suppressed," he said.
"All power plants, cement plants, mines are going to Adani. So, there will be a chakka jam across the state on 22nd July against the conspiracy to hand over Chhattisgarh to Adani and suppress us," he noted.
Chaitanya Baghel arrested because of his 'active involvement'
Chaitanya Baghel was arrested by the probe agency on Friday because of his 'active involvement', and has been sent to five-day ED remand by a court. According to Bhupesh Baghel, the action came on Chaitanya's birthday.
The ED in its remand application said Chaitanya was "actively involved in its acquisition, possession, concealment, transfer, use and projecting the same as untainted."
The ED investigation revealed that Rs 5 crore was received by two firms of Chaitanya from M/s Saheli Jewellers, and further Laxmi Narayan Bansal alias Pappu has confirmed that these funds were transferred against "cash originating out of liquor scam", the remand application said.
"Further, Chaitanya has not paid any interest against this payment and out of Rs 5 crore, Rs 4.5 crore is still pending in the books for repayment. Thus, it is evident that the payment made by M/s Baghel Developers owned by Chaitanya is against the payment of an equivalent amount in cash only," the ED remand application added.
