ED also questioned AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, claims party MLA

Guwahati: While Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi was grilled by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the third day, Assam’s prime Opposition All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) Chief Badruddin Ajmal was also questioned by the ED several times in the last one year, said party MLA Karim Uddin Barbhuiya.

He added on Wednesday: “After the last year’s state Assembly election, ED questioned him (Badruddin Ajmal) for 6-7 hours on more than one occasion. The central agency also lodged cases against the Ajmal Foundation. Even, the state government launched a witch-hunt against Ajmal by launching an eviction drive against the foundation-funded hospital in Hojai.”

Taking a jibe at the Congress whose workers have hit the street throughout the country against Sonia Gandhi’s ED questioning, Barbhuiya also said: “We have never made the ED questioning a political issue. Our leader silently co-operated with the investigative agency though we were also a target of political vendetta.”

The party sources confirmed that just after the 2021 state Assembly election, Badruddin received ED notices against his organisations — Ajmal Foundation and Markazul Ma’arif.

It was alleged that the government norms were violated while receiving foreign donations for these two organisations run by the AIUDF chief.

Badruddin Ajmal’s brother and former Lok Sabha MP Sirajuddin Ajmal was also questioned by the ED.

Sirajuddin is currently an MLA from Assam’s Jamunamukh constituency.

A few media reports also claimed that there was a recent ED raid in the AIUDF Chief’s houses, however, the latter has denied any such reports.