The Congress on Monday claimed that West Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee want to save herself from raids by probe agencies and has thus struck a deal with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “defame” Rahul Gandhi and the grand-old party.

In a statement to news agency ANI, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury claimed that Mamata Banerjee was speaking on the directions of PM Modi as ‘didi’ and PM have made a deal “to defame the image of Rahul Gandhi and Congress.”

Chowdhury claimed that Banerjee wants to “save herself from ED-CBI raids” and is thus speaking against the Congress and Rahul Gandhi to make the Prime Minister happy.

The Congress leader was reacting to the West Bengal CM’s recent comments on Rahul Gandhi wherein she alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was portraying the Congress scion as a hero in their bid to divert attention from burning issues.

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Addressing her Trinamool Congress (TMC) party workers during an internal meeting in the West Bengal’s Murshidabad district on Sunday, Banerjee accused the ruling BJP’s efforts to stall parliament proceedings in their demand for an apology from Rahul Gandhi, as an attempt to “make a hero” out of the Wayanad MP so that no one questions PM Modi.

Banerjee alleged that the BJP was trying to shift focus from current issues by stalling proceedings over Rahul Gandhi democracy remarks in the UK.

The second leg of the budget session—which began amid turmoil last week— has been marred by logjams as neither the ruling BJP, nor the Congress-led Opposition, are budging from their respective demands.

While the BJP are demanding an apology from Rahul Gandhi over his comments on the Indian democracy during a recent speech in London, the Opposition has intensified its push for a demand asking for a Joint Parliamentary Probe (JPC) into the Adani-Hindenburg report.

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Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday in New Delhi for the second round of questioning in the Delhi excise policy scam.

The ED questioned the BRS leader for the first time on March 11 for almost nine hours in connection with a money laundering case. Kavitha’s statements were recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

KCR’s daughter received a second summons on March 16, but she chose not to appear and instead sent Soma Bharath, a BRS party office bearer, to the ED office. Soma Bharath handed the investigating officer a six-page explanation against her deposition as well as her bank statement, personal details, and business information.

Kavitha also sent a letter to the ED stating that it must wait until the Supreme Court hears her case challenging the summons and requesting protection from arrest.

The federal probe agency confronted K Kavitha with the statements made by Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandran Pillai, an arrested accused in the case who allegedly shares close ties with her, apart from those of a few others involved in the case.

As per the investigation carried out so far, the ED in a statement said that Vijay Nair, on behalf of leaders of AAP has received kickbacks to the tune of at least Rs 100 crore from a group, called South Group (controlled by Sarath Reddy, K Kavitha, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy).

The ED has so far arrested 12 people in the case, including former Delhi deputy chief minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia. The senior AAP leader appeared before the ED on March 17, however, his custody has been extended by 5 days and will appear before the court on March 22.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav spoke to the media and said that the Congress party has to decide its role in Lok Sabha elections. The advice by the Samajwadi Party chief comes in the midst of Congress, as well as several other parties pushing for a grand alliance to unseat the BJP.

Yadav, while talking to the media also stressed on BJP being defeated in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and advised Congress and other parties to decide their respective roles before the 2024 elections. The Samajwadi Party chief also said and highlighted that the Chief Ministers of various states are working together to stitch a coalition.

He further said and named Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee of being the Chief Ministers who are working together and pushing for a grand alliance ahead of the 2024 general elections. He also added and said that the names for the coalition will be announced later.

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Akhilesh Yadav talked to the the media after attending party’s two-day national executive meeting in Kolkata. As per the reports, in the Samajwadi party national executive meeting, the leaders talked over key strategies for three Hindi-speaking states in the general election. It was also reported that SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav, MP Jaya Bachchan and state unit chiefs from 20 states were in attendance at the party meeting.

The reports also suggest that the Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also claimed and predicted that the BJP will lose all the seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Yadav, while speaking to the media, also said that the alliance is not the main issue in the 2024 election, and went on to say that the main issue is unemployment and inflation.

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