BJP washing machine from which accused in years-old cases come out spotless: Congress

PTI, Dec 7, 2024, 8:33 PM IST

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New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday accused the BJP of being a “washing machine” from which the accused of years-old cases come out clean and spotless.

Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh said the new slogan of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is “Come with Modi — Erase all your stains and earn lots of money.” In a post in Hindi on X, the Congress leader said, “The BJP’s washing machine is on, come with (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and remove the stains.” His comments came on a day when Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his two deputies, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, took oath as members of the Legislative Assembly.

The opposition, however, decided not to take oath citing alleged irregularities in electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the recently-held state Assembly polls.

“The BJP’s washing machine is running continuously. This machine has cleaned and polished Ajit Pawar in return for forming a BJP government in Maharashtra. All the cases of disproportionate assets against Ajit Pawar have been closed,” Ramesh said.

He claimed that the income-tax department had attached properties worth Rs 1,000 crore of Pawar, his wife Sunetra and son Parth in 2021.

“Due to the magic of the BJP washing machine, these properties have now been released by the income-tax department.

“When agencies took action against Ajit Pawar, he was in the opposition. At that time, Modi had called Ajit Pawar’s party NCP a ‘naturally corrupt party’ and Devendra Fadnavis himself had said that one day, Ajit Pawar will be grinding, grinding,” the Congress leader claimed.

Earlier, when Pawar joined the BJP, the investigations against him in several cases, including the Rs 70,000-crore irrigation “scam”, the Jarandeshwar sugar mill “scam” and many other cases were stopped, he alleged.

“The BJP has now become such a washing machine that even if you put a years-old case in it, the accused comes out clean,” he said.

Ramesh named several BJP leaders who have been “washed in the washing machine”.

“Himanta Biswa Sarma — He was accused in the water supply scam worth thousands of crores of rupees in Guwahati. When he was in the Congress, the BJP had released a white paper against him. But today, he is the chief minister of Assam. He is a favourite of Modi and (Union Home Minister Amit) Shah,” the Congress leader said.

Citing the instance of Narayan Rane, he said the CBI and ED had registered several cases against him. But as soon as he joined the BJP, his stains were washed away and Modi made him a central minister, Ramesh claimed.

“This time, the washing machine gave tickets to both his sons and made them contest the election,” he said.

On Chhagan Bhujbal, Ramesh said in 2016, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Bhujbal in a money-laundering case related to the Maharashtra Sadan “scam”. After he parted ways with Sharad Pawar and joined the BJP, the action against him, his relatives and firms in the “benami” property case was stopped, he claimed.

On former Congress leader Ashok Chavan, Ramesh said the BJP had accused him in the Adarsh Housing Society “scam”. He joined the saffron party, the investigation was stopped and now, Modi has sent him to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra, the Congress leader said.

He said the saffron party had accused Praful Patel of being involved in the Rs 3,000-crore aircraft “scam” but after he joined the BJP-led alliance, the case was closed and with the help of the BJP, he went to the Rajya Sabha again.

About Suvendu Adhikari, Ramesh said when he was in the Trinamool Congress (TMC), he was accused of being involved in the Saradha Chit Fund scam of thousands of crores of rupees. The ED and the CBI conducted raids against him every day. Later, he joined the BJP and all the cases were closed and today, he is the opposition leader in West Bengal, he said.

“Apart from these, there are hundreds of names like Naveen Jindal, Mukul Roy, Mithun Chakraborty, Sovan Chatterjee, Y S Chowdhary, Jagan Reddy, Jitendra Tiwari, Hardik Patel, who have become spotless after being washed in the washing machine of the BJP.

“So now the BJP’s new slogan is — Come with Modi — Erase all your stains and earn lots of money,” Ramesh said.