Rahul slams Centre over Farooq Abdullah's questioning by ED, accuses them of vendetta

WAYNAD, KERALA: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday slammed the ED questioning National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, accusing the Centre of using its probe agencies as political weapons and saying many, including himself, were facing "this assault".

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday questioned the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister for over six hours in connection with a multi-crore scam in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association, prompting accusations of "political vendetta" by the newly-formed People's Alliance comprising several mainstream parties. "There is a tendency in the current government to use agencies as political weapons. If somebody is not doing what they want politically, across the board, they feel like they can use the CBI and the ED to pressurise them, threaten them," Gandhi, on a three-day tour of Kerala, said.

These institutions were designed to give justice to the people and not to be used as politicalinstruments and not the "personal instrument" of the Prime Minister, he said.


"It's not only Mr Farooq Abdulla, many many people are facing this assault. I am personally facing this assault. I have a number of cases against me and there are many leaders who are facing this assault," Gandhi said. However, when asked about the CBI and ED probe into the gold smuggling case in Kerala, the Congress leader, responded saying "justice must prevail". "The investigation agencies are probing the matter. Lets see where the investigation goes. Justice must prevail," he said.