Tax raids on many SP leaders; tax dept seems to have joined poll battle in UP, Akhilesh takes jibe at govt

The income tax department on Saturday conducted raids on many Samajwadi Party leaders including the party spokesperson Rajiv Rai, Manoj Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav's personal secretary Jainendra Yadav.

Hours after the raids began. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav took to Twitter to slam the Yogi govt in the state and the BJP government at the Centre. He said that these raids out of the blue reflect that the ruling government is scared of defeat in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections and these are mere pressure tactics.

"As the BJP's fear of loss increases, the opponents are likely to face raids. Despite that, the Samajwadi Party's 'Rath' (chariot) will continue to move."

"Even the public now stands unitedly against the BJP. Will the BJP raid 22 crores people in the state?" he tweeted in Hindi.

Later on the Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister launched a bitter attack on the Yogi government saying that it is just the beginning. Now the ruling BJP will resort to all kind of raids by the government agencies be it CBI or ED, but the Samajwadi Party leaders will not be shaken.

"I have said this time and again that as elections approach.. all this starts happening. Abhi to Income Tax department aaya hai, Enforcement Directorate aayega, CBI aayega ( Right now, now the tax department has come... the Enforcement Directorate will come, CBI will come) but the cycle (the Samajwadi Party's poll symbol) will not stop... its pace will not stop ... the BJP will be wiped out of UP. People of the state won't be fooled. Why was Rajeev Rai not raided a month ago, why now? Because elections are near?,” said Akhilesh as quoted by NDTV.

Meanwhile, responding to the raid, Rajeev Rai told news agency ANI, ""I have no criminal background or black money. I help people and the government did not like it. This is a result of that. If you do anything, then they will make a video, register an FIR and you will fight a case unnecessarily."

On Saturday morning, a team from the Income Tax department from Varanasi reached Rai's home on Saturday in eastern UP's Mau district. Rai owns a group that runs many educational institutions in Karnataka.

In 2014, Rai was the Lok Sabha candidate from the Ghosi constituency.

The income tax raids have come just before the upcoming assembly elections in the state of Uttar Pradesh, while the ruling BJP is busy inaugurating major development projects one after the other. A few days back PM Modi was in Kashi to inaugurate the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor and on Saturday hours after these raids on SP leaders, the prime minister reached Shahjahanpur to lay foundation stone of Ganga Expressway.

The SP chief has been claiming that these projects were started during his tenure, the BJP seems to be in a hurry to inaugurate them with the upcoming polls in mind. The Uttar Pradesh watchers believe that the Samajwadi Party has emerged as a strong rival for the BJP in the state.