PM should get raids conducted against those he suspects of sending tempos full of cash: Kanhaiya

Begusarai: Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Monday challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “send ED, CBI after Ambani and Adani” if he was sure that “tempos full of cash” had been dispatched to the opposition party.

The former JNU student leader spoke to journalists in his native district of Begusarai, where he had made an unsuccessful poll debut five years ago on a CPI ticket.

“The prime minister seems to have forgetten he is in power and not in the opposition. He sounds ridiculous when he makes such allegations,” Kumar said at a polling booth after casting his vote.

“How did the PM get such information? Is he making it up? If not, why is he complaining? He has Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his beck and call. He should get raids conducted against those whom he suspects of sending tempos full of cash,” the Congress leader said.

The PM had last week accused the Congress of having a “deal” with Ambani and Adani, and asked if the party has received “tempo loads of black money” from the two businessmen for its leader Rahul Gandhi to stop “abusing” them.

Kumar, who is contesting the current elections from North East Delhi, also rued that the PM, who has intensively campaigned in Bihar and just concluded a two-day tour, “never bothered to come when the state was reeling under the hardships caused by the Covid pandemic”.

“He has not even granted special status to Bihar, a demand his own ally, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has been raising for long. And, nobody knows where is the assistance of Rs 1.25 lakh crore that he had announced with so much fanfare,” alleged the young leader.

Admitting that he felt a sense of nostalgia in his native place, Kumar also expressed his full support to the CPI, which is contesting the Begusarai seat. The Left party, which Kumar quit in 2021, has fielded former MLA Awadhesh Rai from the seat.

“I see myself as a part of the INDIA coalition. And I support every candidate of the alliance,” asserted Kumar.

Kumar, who first shot into fame when he was slapped with a sedition case following an event that took place inside JNU premises, allegedly in his presence, added: “The PM seems to have forgotten his old slogan of ‘abki baar chaar sau paar’ since people had begun to wonder if the BJP wanted to change the Constitution and scrap reservations by winning more than 400 seats”.