Both UPA, NDA misused Central probe agencies, says MNS chief

ED is not a tool in the hands of Centre to topple whosoever it did not like, says Raj Thackeray.

Both the erstwhile Congress-led United Progressive Alliance and the current BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government have misused the Central probe agencies to settle political scores, said Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday, commenting on the recent spate of Enforcement Directorate actions against the leadership of the ruling ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ government. “The ED is not some tool in the hands of the Central government that it can use to topple whosoever it did not like … This is extremely wrong. Earlier, the same [misusing probe agencies] was practised when the Congress was in power and now the BJP is doing likewise. In fact, the real culprits who have committed misdemeanours are roaming scot-free,” said Mr. Thackeray, speaking during the inauguration of the MNS party office in Pune. The MNS president was responding to questions on the ED’s questioning of Nationalist Congress Party leader Eknath Khadse and the agency’s arrest of his son-in-law Girish Choudhary in a money laundering case related to a dubious land deal in Pune’s Bhosari area.