K Kavitha’s father, K Chandrasekhar Rao, is a major opposition leader in the centre.
New Delhi:
K Kavitha, leader of Bharat Rashtra Samithi and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, will be questioned by the Enforcement Directorate this morning in the Delhi liquor policy case. Manish Sisodia has been arrested in the same case.
Ms. Kavitha was supposed to meet the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday. Citing her hunger strike scheduled in Delhi on Friday to pursue the introduction of the women’s reservation law in parliament, she asked the ED to postpone her questioning until today, which the central bureau had agreed to.
The leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and former deputy chief minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, is already under the custody of the ED. He was also arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for alleged corruption in drafting Delhi’s new liquor policy, which was later dropped.
A major focus of the investigation into the Delhi liquor policy case is an alleged network of middlemen, businessmen and politicians that the central agencies have dubbed the “South Group”.
The ED claimed that the liquor policy was modified to help “South Group” companies and Mr. Sisodia watered down the policy in their favor without any consultation.
One of the “South Group” people under the radar is Mrs. Kavitha. Her father K Chandrasekhar Rao, popularly known as KCR, is a major opposition leader in the centre. This has led to allegations against the BJP-led center of using central agencies to harass opposition leaders with false business.
“In India, there is no difference between the summons of the Enforcement Directorate and the summons of (Narendra) Modi… It is now a practice where there are elections, before the Prime Minister comes the Enforcement Directorate. What can the opposition do Go to the People’s Court or the Supreme Court,” Ms. Kavitha told NewsMadura on Friday.
Her brother and Telangana minister KT Rama Rao also came to Delhi yesterday, a day before his sister’s interrogation by the ED.
KCR told party leaders yesterday that they will fight to stop the intimidation by the rival BJP with the help of central agencies, PTI news agency reported. “Our struggle will continue until the BJP is ousted from (power) in the country,” KCR said.
Ms Kavitha, 44, has said the BJP is trying to “intimidate my leader”, referring to her father KCR, who is hoping for a third consecutive term in power in the state, which is due for parliamentary elections in a few months.
During the Delhi court hearing on Mr Sisodia’s case yesterday, his lawyer denounced the ED for considering arrest as a right without going through due process. “It has become a fashion these days for the agencies to treat arrests as a right. It is time for the courts to take a heavy hit on this sense of entitlement,” said Mr. Sisodia’s lawyer, Dayan Krishna.
Post comment
Featured video of the day
Ex-AIIMS chief Randeep Guleria explains how H3N2 differs from common flu
