Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge condemned the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids against Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi. The raids took place at the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Minister’s Villupuram residence on Monday, July 17. Kharge noted how the raids are taking place right before the opposition parties’ meeting in Bengaluru, scheduled to be held on July 17 and 18. He said, “We condemn the ED raids against Tamil Nadu Education Minister, Dr K Ponmudi, just before our crucial opposition meeting.”
Alleging that using ED has become a way to intimidate the Opposition, Kharge said, “This has become Modi Govt's predictable script in order to intimidate and divide the opposition. Surprisingly, BJP has suddenly woken up to the need of putting together an alliance of ideologically opposed parties.”
Urging the Opposition parties to unite against the “vendetta politics” of the union government, Kharge said, “All like-minded parties are united against the vendetta politics of the Modi Govt and shall not be bogged down by these cowardly tactics to trample upon Democracy.”
We condemn the ED raids against Tamil Nadu Education Minister, Dr. K. Ponmudy, just before our crucial opposition meeting.
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) July 17, 2023
This has become Modi Govt's predictable script in order to intimidate and divide the opposition.
Surprisingly, BJP has suddenly woken up to the need of…
Raids on Ponmudi’s residence come close to a month after DMK Minister Senthil Balaji was raided and subsequently arrested by the ED in connection with the cash-for-jobs scam during his tenure as the Transport Minister during the AIADMK rule. On July 3, Ponmudi was acquitted in the land grabbing case registered against him and six others by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC). He was accused of illegally acquiring government land in Chennai’s Saidapet during his tenure as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Minister between 1996 and 2001.