14 Opposition parties file plea against ‘misuse’ of Central agencies

At least 14 Opposition parties, including Congress, AAP, BRS and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, on Friday came together to file a petition before the Supreme Court against the “blatant misuse” of Central agencies.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has been leading efforts to unite the Opposition parties on the issue, has requested for formation of new guidelines regarding the use of agencies like Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The date of hearing is yet to be decided, said a party leader in the know of the matter.

The parties that have filed the petition include Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), All India Trinamool Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Samajwadi Party, Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction), National Conference (NC), Nationalist Congress Party, Congress, Communist Party Of India (Marxist), Communist Party Of India (CPI) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

After the arrest of Manish Sisodia, AAP criticised the Centre for misusing the CBI and the ED. AAP national convenor had also written to other political parties to unite on the issue. Senior AAP leader Satyendra Jain was arrested by the ED in an alleged money laundering case and is currently in judicial custody in Tihar jail.

Sisodia was arrested in connection with Delhi excuse policy scam. BRS leader K Kavitha has already been grilled multiple times by the ED in the same case.

CBI and ED have conducted raids at the residence and questioned RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and his daughter in connection with land for job scam in Bihar.

Similarly, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut was also arrested in a money laundering case and remained in jail for three months. Top Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have been questioned for several days in the National Herald corruption case by the ED.

In response, the AAP has also launched a massive campaign to “save democracy and the Constitution” with calls to remove Prime Minister Narendra Modi from power. On Thursday, the party launched the ‘Modi Hatao Desh Bachao’ campaign on the occasion of Shaheed Diwas, which marks the martyrdom of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Shaheed Rajguru and Shaheed Sukhdev.

Recently, Kejriwal also requested seven non-Congress opposition ruled state chief ministers to cobble up as a united opposition. The party however, said this communication was done to exchange the idea of development works in their states.

“We are in touch with eight chief ministers. It’s a governance process. We will be visiting each other’s states to learn the process of good governance,” CM Kejriwal said on Wednesday.