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Reacting to a video shared by the BJP — in which a man calling himself Shubham Soni claims that he is the real owner of the now-banned Mahadev app and had paid ₹508 crore to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel — the Chief Minister has alleged that the BJP is now fighting elections with the help of Directorate of Enforcement (ED).
“If the ED has issued a press release to defame someone, the Election Commission should take cognisance of it. The ED is issuing a press release and the BJP is releasing the video. The ED is the BJP and the BJP is the ED,” Mr. Baghel said on the sidelines of a campaign event on Monday, referring to the video and a press release in which the ED had earlier claimed that it was probing an alleged payment of about ₹508 crore by the Mahadev betting app promoters to him.
Earlier, reacting to a question on the Centre banning the Mahadev app just ahead of the first elections, the Chief Minister said the application was still running. The Congress has also asked why the Centre took this long to ban the app.
Union Minister’s stand
Meanwhile in Bhopal, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar dismissed the Congress’s claims of having written to the Centre to ban the Mahadev betting app.
“The Chhattisgarh police and the Chhattisgarh government started the investigation one and a half years ago, but did not do anything regarding this. They wrote a letter, but no one knows to whom. They just wanted to stretch this investigation so that they can take money from the app. They have received ₹508 crore from the app, and now they need to answer why they took it… ED requested us to block this app yesterday for the first time and we immediately blocked 22 such apps…They did not give any application to the Central government to block this app in these 1.5 years,” said the Union Minister.
In a post on X, Mr. Baghel also questioned whether television channels running the purported footage amount to defamation.
“I wonder on what basis are all the responsible TV channels running the statement of an unknown person? Just because my name is in it? Is this not a case of defamation?” the Chief Minister wrote. He added that neither he knew the person nor had he ever met him in the way he was claiming. “I can’t say if he was a part of any gathering or function,” Mr. Baghel said.
Hitting back at Mr. Baghel’s allegations, former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Raman Singh said it was Mr. Baghel who was giving protection to those running the Mahadev app.
“…now the operator of the app himself has taken your name, so they are also calling him a BJP man. Your corrupt officials have been in jail for months, they are not getting bail. I think very soon you will tell the court that you belong to BJP. And after the election results, [you will] say that the public has also joined BJP,” Mr. Singh wrote.
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