Probe report: When ED, CBI call politicians

On Sunday, Ravindra Waikar, a close aide of Uddhav Thackeray and Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA from Jogeshwari, joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. He has been facing Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe in connection with construction of a luxury hotel in the western suburbs on a plot owned by the Mumbai civic body. Waikar is latest among dozens of leaders from the opposition parties to join the BJP or its ruling allies after they faced probe by central agencies.

Within a week of Adarsh housing scam being mentioned under the title ‘Pervasive Corruption’ in the white paper issued by the central government, former chief minister and prominent Congress leader Ashok Chavan switched over to the BJP.

This has been a pattern for the last 10 years: Many leaders who faced corruption charges left their parties to join BJP or became BJP’S allies. Former Congress leader and state minister Harshvardhan Patil did not mince his words when he said he could sleep in peace after joining the BJP without fear of ED knocking at his door. In 2019, then state BJP president Raosaheb Danve had said that the party had a washing machine and washing powder that cleans leaders who were accused of corruption charges earlier. Thereafter the opposition has not missed an opportunity to slam the BJP for using ED, CBI and the I-T department to win people over.

The tactic of pressuring or cornering opposition leaders was employed by the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) as well. When it was in power, BJP leaders such as Kirit Somaiya and Girish Mahajan too faced probe by investigation agencies.

Here is a list of people who faced inquiry recently.