“What special interest…”: Sudhanshu Trivedi questions Congress’s role in Chhattisgarh case

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sudhanshu Trivedi on Saturday mounted a sharp attack on the Congress leadership over its response to a corruption case in Chhattisgarh against Chaitanya Baghel, son of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, accusing the party’s top brass of defending corruption for political motives.

Addressing a press conference, the BJP national spokesperson questioned the Congress’s urgency in defending the alleged irregularities, calling it an “unprecedented” show of support from the party’s highest echelons.

Trivedi said, “The way the Congress’s first family aggressively defended this particular case in Chhattisgarh is unprecedented. We have never seen such an example before. Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had spoken up in defense of his brother-in-law–that was a family matter. But this is a political issue.”

He demanded an explanation from the Congress for what he described as a “brazen instance of corruption.”
“That is why we want to ask: what special interest does the Congress’s top leadership have in this Chhattisgarh corruption case that they rushed to defend such a brazen instance of corruption in this manner? We demand an answer from the Congress Party,” he said.

Raising suspicion over the scale and reach of the alleged scam, Trivedi said, “It creates suspicion whether this entire incident was solely about Bhupesh Baghel and his family or whether its links extended all the way to Delhi.”

Extending his criticism to other Congress-ruled states, Trivedi alleged that the party has a pattern of facing corruption charges.
“Today, we want to ask the Congress Party how many of their governments have not faced allegations of corruption.

In Karnataka, there have been multiple cases where direct accusations of corruption were made. In Telangana too, the government faced numerous corruption allegations. Several Congress-led governments have been accused of corruption,” Trivedi said.

Earlier on Friday, the Enforcement Directorate on Friday arrested former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s son Chaitanya Baghel in connection with the ongoing investigation into the alleged multi-crore liquor scam in the state.

The action came a few hours after the agency carried out raids at Chaitanya’s residence in Chhattisgarh. The searches were part of the agency’s broader crackdown on suspected money laundering and irregularities linked to the multi-crore scam.

The move comes months after the agency in March this year seized Rs 30 lakh recovered from the residence of Bhupesh Bhupesh Baghel and his son Chaitanya.

The amount was recovered during day-long search operation conducted at a total of 14 locations across Chhattisgarh in the case pertains to alleged irregularities in the liquor trade in Chhattisgarh, involving suspected illegal commissions and money laundering.