Shiv Sena slams raids on MVA MLAs; reminds Amit Shah of his ED & CBI troubles in UPA era

Amid the ED raids on ex-Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh's residences, ally Shiv Sena asked why only Maharashtra or Bengal leaders were being targeted by ED and CBI. In its mouthpiece Saamana on Sunday, Sena said that attack on MLAs like Pratap Sarnaik and Deshmukh was an attack on the state's autonomy. Reminding Home Minister Amit Shah's own troubles with CBI/ED during UPA era, Sena said that Shah must understand these MLAs' grief.

Saamana: 'ED raiding only Maha & Bengal leaders'

"ED is probing into Anil Deshmukh like he is a 'dacoit from Chamba Valley'. This is an attack on Maharashtra's autonomy, be it ED's probe into Pratap Sarnaik or Anil Deshmukh. It seems like ED is only for probing into Maharashtra or Bengal nowadays. During the Independence struggle, political leaders opposed the British fearlessly, but nowadays seeing the ED or CBI, political leaders are surrendering," lamented Saamana.

It added, "Why was Pratap Sarnaik forced to complain to CM about continued harassment by ED? When there reports of ED probing into two TDP Rajya Sabha MPs CM Ramesh and YS Chaudhari, they quietly joined BJP. Why is CBI investigating Anil Parab and Ajit Pawar? Such harassment has been faced by Amit Shah himself at a time, so he should understand the grief of these MLAs." Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik has recently written to Uddhav Thackeray urging him to join hands with BJP to escape ED's heat.

Backing independent investigative agencies, Sena opined, "ED or CBI should function independently, but has not done so since 1975. The day the Supreme Court termed CBI 'Govt's parrot', it seems everything went downhill. While Amit Shah was harassed for revenge by central agencies, the day the Modi govt was ushered into power, all such matters were dismissed. Even if Sarnaik allies with BJP, where is the guarantee that his troubles will go away? This may be right for politics, but about the country?"

ED raids Deshmukh's residence

On Saturday, ex-Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection to a money laundering case. The summons was sent after Deshmukh's personal assistant Kundan Shinde and his personal secretary Sanjeev Palande were arrested in connection to a money laundering case and later sent to judicial custody till July 1.  Deshmukh's Nagpur residence has already been raided by ED, days earlier. Several Maharashtra ministers, police officers are under ED and CBI lens since the formation of the Sena-NCP-Congress government in 2019.