Pune (Maharashtra) [India], January 10 : Sharad Pawar's NCP MP Supriya Sule on Saturday condemned the Enforcement Directorate raids on political consultancy firm I-PAC in Kolkata, labelling them as "completely undemocratic".
Speaking to reporters, Supriya Sule expressed concern about the nature of the raids, which she believed were done to "take away" the files of Trinamool Congress' internal issues.
"It is very sad what happened in Kolkata. I-PAC had a raid, and all the files concerning the internal issues of the TMC were taken away. This is completely undemocratic. We condemn any such actions," she said.
This comes after the ED conducted raids on Thursday at I-PAC's Kolkata office in connection with the alleged coal smuggling case. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee allegedly interfered during the raid, barging into the I-PAC office with police and taking some of the documents with her.
Mamata Banerjee questioned the legality of the raids and alleged a deeper conspiracy to "steal" the election data of TMC.
A day after the raids, Mamata Banerjee took to the streets in Kolkata to protest against the ED action, and several TMC MPs protested outside the Home Ministry in Delhi.
Addressing the gathering, CM Mamata Banerjee said, "I never react, but if anyone hurts me, I never spare them. In the name of SIR, they target local people. They harassed old people and pregnant women. Those who abuse the TMC, they do not know that TMC workers are extremely dedicated. In the name of SIR, local people are being harassed. Their documents are being taken and they are not being given receipts. When the enumeration took place, Booth Level Agent-1 went door to door with BLOs. They will stay in polling stations and booths."
She further said that she had never seen any party like the BJP before.
"If you speak in Bengali, they declare you Bangladeshi. They say that there are Rohingyas present in Bengal, but where are the Rohingyas? If there are Rohingyas, why has SIR not been started in Assam? Rohingyas enter from Myanmar. First, they have to cross Manipur, Nagaland and Assam. This is all being done because they are trying to come to power in Bengal as they did in Maharashtra and Haryana. They carry out vote theft through the ECI; EC cannot harm me," she added.
On the other hand, ED has filed a plea in Calcutta High Court, accusing the West Bengal Police, allegedly acting in collusion with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, of obstructing its officials and failing to discharge their public duty in "flagrant and blatant disregard to law" during an ongoing search operation in Kolkata carried out on January 8.
In the 28-page petition, the ED said the state police prevented its officers from carrying out their official duties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.