Manesar land deal: Cong denies any wrongdoing, accuses BJP of vendetta

Chandigarh: With the ED registering a money laundering case against former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Congress on Friday came out in his defence asserting that no wrong had been done and charged the BJP governments at the Centre and in the state with misusing such agencies and unleashing "witch-hunt" and "political vendetta".

Denying any wrongdoing in acquisition of land in Manesar in Gurgaon, Hooda said, "No case is based on facts. It is purely politics of vendetta, vengeance and an attempt to defame us."

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said his party would not be cowed down by such cases.

"Our leaders, including Hooda, have not committed any crime. They are clean. We are ready to face any inquiry provided the government does not act out of vindictiveness," he said.

Surjewala alleged the BJP governments at the Centre and in the state were using various agencies as their "political extension" and "misusing" them.

"We are not deterred by CBI search or CBI case, we are ready to face that also and we will face that in court of law and prove facts, but the issue they should rise above political vindictiveness," he said.

Addressing a press conference jointly with Surjewala and former Haryana Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Sharma, Hooda said that "modus operandi of the Haryana government is to register the case and then refer it to CBI."

He alleged that the BJP government was misleading people by "hiding facts".

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a money laundering case against Hooda and others in a case of alleged financial irregularities in acquisition of land in Gurgaon's Manesar in which farmers were allegedly cheated to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore.

The ED has filed a criminal complaint against the Congress leader based on a CBI FIR, under which the probe agency conducted searches in Haryana and the national capital last week.

Hooda said that private persons are registering complaints "and at whose behest they are doing so, everyone knows this."

"It is not prosecution, but naked persecution, which will boomerang on them. They are doing this to divert public attention from their own failures. But I am not going to yield or bend. They cannot keep Congress' or my voice down by such actions. CBI recently conducted searches, but it had to leave empty handed," the two-time former CM said.

Surjewala said Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar was getting direction from BJP President Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "It is a nationwide conspiracy against Congress and its leaders and under it tall leaders of our party are being targeted," he said.