ED is BJP’s star campaigner, says Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge addressing an election meeting in Bhopal on November 8, 2023.
| Photo Credit: A.M. Faruqui

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday described the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s “star campaigner” in the elections in the five States.

Addressing an election rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior, Mr. Kharge claimed that every Congress candidate was facing “four BJP candidates”. “While one candidate is visible, there are three other invisible ones — the ED, the CBI and the IT (Income Tax Department),” he said.

Mr. Kharge’s comments come in the wake of ED raids on various Opposition leaders in poll-bound Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan in the recent days.

Taking a dig at the BJP contesting the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, the Congress chief said Mr. Modi was like an “election machine” who seeks votes for MPs, MLAs and “even mayors” sometimes.

People listen to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at an election meeting in Bhopal on November 8, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
A.M. Faruqui

Mr. Kharge also alleged that M.P. had become number one in the country for all the wrong reasons. “M.P. is number one for corruption, falling income of farmers, malnutrition, unemployment, farmers’ suicides as well as for crime against children, women, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes,” he said.

The Congress has been aggressively campaigning in the State to wrest power from the BJP, which has been ruling M.P. since 2003, barring the 15-month Kamal Nath government between 2018 and 2020.