Bengaluru, June 11 (UNI) Senior Congress leader and AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, on Wednesday accused the BJP of misusing central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to target Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) leaders from the Congress party.
In a statement, Surjewala questioned whether the success of the Congress government’s guarantee schemes in Karnataka had "disturbed the BJP's sleep." He alleged that the BJP harbours deep-rooted animosity against leaders from marginalised communities and has lost all regard for justice.
"The BJP's hatred towards SC, ST and OBC leaders is so intense that it seems they have lost their sense of fairness and legal propriety," he said.
He accused the ED, which he described as a "puppet in the hands of the BJP," of launching politically motivated raids on Congress MP from the SC community, Tukaram, as well as SC MLAs Nagendra, Kampli Ganesh, Srinivas, and MLA Bharat Reddy.
Surjewala pointed out that the same tactics had earlier been used against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, and Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara — all of whom belong to the OBC or Dalit communities.
"The Modi-led Centre is attempting to blacken the face of democracy by turning government agencies into instruments of political vendetta," he said, adding that 193 ED cases have been filed over the past 10 years for political reasons, with convictions in only two cases.
Describing this as a "puppet show," Surjewala alleged that the BJP's sole objective is to intimidate and weaken the Opposition.
"No matter how many malicious attempts the BJP makes, it will not succeed in breaking the unity of the Congress or weakening India’s democratic framework," he asserted.
The Congress leader condemned what he termed the BJP's “hatred-driven politics” and vowed that his party would continue to fight against such misuse of power. UNI BDN SSP