What is Gandhis’ interest in Baghel case: BJP on Priyanka’s defence of ex-CM

The BJP on Saturday questioned Congress general secretary Priyanka Vadra’s defence of Bhupesh Baghel in the ED case of alleged corruption against the former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and asked what vested interest did the Gandhi family have in this issue.

BJP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi flagged Priyanka’s tweet defending Baghel and said while supporting a family member (Robert Vadra who is also facing an ED chargesheet for alleged corruption) is fine, what’s the Congress compulsion in defending Baghel.

“What vested interest does the Gandhi family have in this corruption case from Chhattisgarh?” asked Trivedi, alleging corruption clouds over the Congress governments in Karnataka and Telangana too.

Baghel’s son Chaitanya was arrested on Friday by ED sleuths probing a liquor scam in Chhattisgarh when Baghel was CM. Allegations are Chaitanya and some others ran a parallel system of selling liquor whereby revenues did not accrue to the state exchequer.

Priyanka, while backing Baghel, said on X: “The BJP government has dedicated all the forests of Chhattisgarh to (industralist ) Gautam Adani. The forests are being destroyed in defiance of the PESA Act and the NGT directives.”

“Former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was going to raise this issue in the Assembly. To stop him, the ED raided his house early in the morning and arrested his son. In the last 11 years, the country has understood well that these are methods to crush the voice of the people and suppress the Opposition. But it is impossible to suppress the truth and scare the Opposition with such tactics. Every Congress worker stands firmly with Baghel ji,” she said.