'No Action Executed With Sense Of Revenge': Sitharaman On ED Raids On Chhattisgarh Cong Leaders

At the post-Budget press conference in Jaipur, the finance minister said, “Any agency first collects data and only then action is taken. No action is executed with a sense of revenge.”

Nirmala Sitharaman was answering questions at a post-Budget press conference in Jaipur

Source : PTI File Photo

New Delhi: In response to a question on the ongoing raids on Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday stated that no action is carried out with a sense of revenge.

At the post-Budget press conference in Jaipur, the finance minister said, “Any agency first collects data and only then action is taken. No action is executed with a sense of revenge,” ANI reported.

She also said that Congress should learn to listen while sitting in the Parliament.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday conducted fresh searches at nearly a dozen locations in Chhattisgarh in connection with a money laundering probe into an alleged coal levy scam in the state, ANI reported, citing sources.

The searches are underway at the residential and office premises of Congress leaders, including Ram Gopal Agarwal, Girish Devangan, RP Singh, Vinod Tiwari, and Sunny Agrawal.

While addressing a query about bringing petrol and diesel under the ambit of GST, Sitharaman said that if any party or state government wants to bring petrol and diesel under the purview of Goods and Services Tax (GST), then it would be discussed only once it is placed before the GST Council.

She said it does not depend on the government and only the GST Council can decide on this.

The conference was also attended by the Union ministers of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary and Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad. Finance Secretary TV Somanathan and Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran were also present at the conference.

Addressing the post-Budget conference in Mumbai on February 11, Sitharaman said Indian regulators are “very experienced” and seized of the matter related to the Adani Group and are “on their toes” to handle the situation that has arisen following a report by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research.

Speaking to the media persons in Mumbai, Sitharaman said the regulators “are on their toes as always, not just now”.

(With inputs from ANI)