TRS MLC K Kavitha, daughter of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, has said that the cases against her and party leaders were "low-level politics." She added that she was ready to face any kind of inquiry.
Kavitha's statements came after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) named her in a court filing in connection with the Delhi liquor policy. The ED named her in the remand report of businessman Amit Arora, who was arrested on Wednesday. Kavitha has been named as one of the members of 'South Group' in the report.
The report by ED read: "As per the investigation carried so far, Sh Vijay Nair, on behalf of leaders of AAP has at least received kickbacks to the tune of ₹ 100 cr from a group; called South Group (controlled by Sh Sarath Reddy, Ms. K Kavitha, Sh Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy) by various persons including Amit Arora. The same has been disclosed by the arrestee Sh Amit Arora in his statements," the ED said.
This was the first time that her name was featured in the investigation though BJP MP Parvesh Varma and former MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa had raised allegations against her in August. Following this, Kavitha filed a defamation case against Varma and Sirsa at the City Civil Court in Hyderabad. The court, in an interim order, had directed the BJP leaders not to make any defamatory statements against Kavitha.
Kavitha also lashed out at the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, alleging that the "ED arrives before the PM" in any state where the elections are happening.
"Bachcha bachcha jaanta hai, Modi se pehle ED aata hai (every child knows, ED arrives before Modi)," she said, adding that the BJP has "destabilised nine states in eight years".
"You cannot win elections using your central agencies," she added. TRS party workers gathered in large numbers at her residence expressing solidarity.
"We state that we will face any kind of inquiry. If the agencies come and ask us questions we will certainly answer. But tarnishing leaders' images by giving selective leaks to the media, people will refute it," Kavitha told reporters.
She also dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to keep her and other leaders in jail by proving that they are guilty of any wrongdoings.
ED report
The agency also said that at least 36 accused, including Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and a PA of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, "destroyed or used" 170 phones to hide evidence of "kickbacks" worth thousands of crores of rupees in the alleged scam.
"The policy was formulated with deliberate loopholes, in-built mechanism to facilitate illegal activities and is marred with deliberate inconsistencies which when looked deeply, reflect malafide intentions of policy-makers," it alleged.
"This policy, though on the face of it, has promising and laudable objectives of stopping cartelisation and encouraging fair trade practices, in reality it promoted cartel formations through back door, awarded exorbitant wholesale (12 per cent) and huge retail (185 per cent) profit margins and incentivised other illegal activities on account of criminal conspiracy of leaders of AAP (Aam Aadmi Party)," the ED said in the report.
According to the ED, the Delhi government faced a loss to the tune of Rs 581 crore "only to fill the personal coffers of leaders of the AAP." It added that the total loss of revenue due to alleged irregularities in the policy stood at Rs 2,873 crore (including loss of licence fee)".
