The Enforcement Directorate on Monday raided multiple places belonging to senior Shiv Sena Transport Minister Anil Parab and five-time Lok Sabha MP P Gawali.
Parab was slapped with an ED notice demanding his appearance on August 31. However, he said he would consult legal experts on the matter. Gawali, however, received no ED notice. The agency raided around half a dozen locations linked to her in Washim district. These include trusts, a college, and social and business organisations.
Patil is a close aide of Sena President and Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray. Gawali, meanwhile, is the party's sole woman face in the lower house of the parliament. She was elected twice from Washim and thrice from the Washim-Yavatmal constituency.
"It (ED notice) is a legal matter. We shall deal with it legally," Parab said.
A week ago, Union MSME Minister Narayan Rane was arrested, granted to magisterial custody and then given bail during his Jan Ashirwad Yatra.
Sena MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut responded that notices issued by ED are not death warrants but love letters for political workers.
"Only the frequency of such' love letters' has increased after many unsuccessful attempts (by the opposition BJP) to breach the wall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, which remains strong and impregnable. We are not scared by it," Raut said.
Nationalist Congress Party spokesperson and Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik slammed that these notices and raids were an outcome of clear political vendetta against non-BJP ruled states.
"Some BJP leaders say in advance that so and so leader will face action and the central agencies start working. There's a strong doubt in the minds of the people all over India about the ED and even the Supreme Court has made certain observations recently," Malik said. He further noted that all actions against leaders from other parties are dropped when they join the BJP. The MVA will not be cowed down by such tactics, he added.