After the Enforcement Directorate (ED) included her name in the Delhi excise policy scam, MLC and daughter of the Telangana Chief Minister, K Kavitha, said the move was a result of “cheap politics”. Addressing the media on Wednesday, November 30, Kavita said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was harassing her using central agencies such as the ED and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Unfazed by the ED’s action, the former minister said that she will cooperate with the investigation and does not fear being jailed.
“A year before the elections in whichever state, you will see the ED arriving in that state ahead of Modi’s visit. This is nothing new. The people of this country have been observing this. Since we have elections in December next year, ED has come to Telangana before Modi. The ED and CBI cases against me or our ministers or our MLAs is nothing but the BJP’s cheap political strategy,” Kavitha said.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader further hit out at the BJP, and asked party leaders not to leak selective information from the probe which could tarnish her reputation. “If agencies question us, we will definitely answer them. But to selectively leak information to the media to tarnish my name will backfire. My appeal to Prime Minister Modi is to change his stubborn attitude. In a democracy, we should win elections by our promises to the people, and not using ED,” she said. Kavitha had earlier approached the civil court seeking an injunction against BJP leaders naming in the scam.
On Thursday, several TRS supporters had gathered at the residence of Kavitha to express solidarity with her.
The ED filed a petition at a Delhi district court seeking the remand of businessman Amit Arora, an accused in the liquor policy scam, which also named Kavitha as an accomplice. The ED alleged that the Delhi government’s policy allegedly promoted cartel formations through back doors, awarded exorbitant wholesale (12%) and huge retail (185%) profit margins and incentivised other illegal activities on account of criminal conspiracy of leaders of Aam Aadmi Party, the ED authorities claim.
According to the remand report, businessman Vijay Nair, who has already been arrested in the case, received kickbacks of Rs 100 crore from 'South Group', which is allegedly controlled by Kavitha and others.
“The 12% margin to the wholesalers was devised to extract half of it as a kickback to the AAP leaders. As per the investigation carried so far, Vijay Nair, on behalf of leaders of AAP has at least received kickbacks to the tune of Rs 100 crore from a group called South Group (controlled by Sarath Reddy, K Kavitha, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy) by various persons including Amit Arora. The same has been disclosed by the arrestee Amit Arora in his statements,” reads the report.
Several TRS leaders are being probed by the CBI and the ED authorities in connection with the scam. On Wednesday, CBI authorities summoned Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar Reddy and Rajya Sabha MP Vaddiraju Ravichandra, asking him to appear before the officials at the CBI headquarters in Delhi on Thursday.