BJP leaders know about the ED’s actions in advance…looks like the orders come from the BJP – Sharad Pawar, NCP(SCP)

Picture : ANI / X

In a scathing jibe at the Modi government NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar has alleged the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government was misusing agencies like the Enforcement Directorate to create fear among opposition leaders and called the ED “supporting party” of the BJP.

Speaking to reporters in Pune ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Pawar also claimed that steps were being taken to influence elections with the help of agencies like the ED and candidates were being threatened not to contest from the opposition side.

He cited figures of the ED’s actions between 2005 and 2023, claiming it registered 5,806 cases and only 25 of them have been disposed of.

“The disposal rate is 0.42 per cent and the conviction rate is just 0.40 per cent. The ED’s budget has gone up from Rs 300 crore in 2022 to Rs 404 crore,” the former Union minister said.

“Between 2005 and 2023, two governments were in power, including the UPA of which we were also a part.

During the UPA regime, the ED investigated 26 leaders, of whom five were from the Congress and three from the BJP. It shows that during the UPA regime ED’s action was not politically motivated, but after 2014, not a single BJP leader has been questioned,” Pawar said.

These figures raise a doubt if the ED’s actions under the BJP government were politically motivated, the former Maharashtra chief minister said. “It indicates that the ED has become a supporting party of the BJP,” he said. “BJP leaders know about the ED’s actions in advance…looks like the orders come from the BJP,” Pawar claimed.