Dharmendra Pradhan snubs Congress after money seizure, says Dheeraj Sahu is grand old party’s ATM

By Sanghamitra Pradhan

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 16: Senior BJP leader and Union education, skill development and entrepreneurship minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday joined a battery of his party leaders who in no uncertain terms castigated the Congress after the seizure of huge money from Odisha’s multiple country-liquor manufacturing units and selling points which have got alleged links with Jharkhand’s Rajya Sabha member Dheeraj Sahu.

He said the grand old party used the Rajya Sabha MP Sahu as its bank ATM.

Pradhan’s diatribe came a day after the Rajya Sabha MP broke his silence and clarified that that seized cash from liquor manufacturing units in Odisha neither belonged to the Congress nor any other political party.

The Income Tax (I-T) department recovered Rs 351 crore from multiple country-liquor manufacturing units and selling points in Odisha’s Boudh, Bolangir, Sundergarh districts.

The Rajya Sabha MP has alleged links with the country-liquor manufacturing units and selling points in Odisha.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the BJP’s Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra at Barang near here, Pradhan said, “The world knows that Dheeraj Sahu is the ATM for the Gandhi family. He is third time MP from the Congress and everybody says that he is the ATM for the Gandhi family. Nobody is able to digest his statements in defence after a week.”

“Dheeraj Sahu was running and manipulating the excise policy on his own terms. It was his modus operandi to pressurise people by showing photographs with Gandhi family. He was one of the close confidants of the Congress family,” said Pradhan.

The minister said the Odisha government’s “moth-eaten” excise policy greatly twisted to favour liquor manufacturers and traders.  

Earlier on Friday, Sahu had dismissed the claims made by media that the cash seized by I-T sleuths owned by him and said it belong to some of his relatives and not him.

“The matter is between them and the I-T department. My relatives will clarify on that later. But before all that, we should wait for a statement from I-T department. They will tell whether the seized cash is black money or white money. All the cash seized was from sales of liquor. “Baldeo Sahu and Sons’ and ‘Ritesh Sahu and Sons’ firms are owned by my relatives. Besides, there are other relatives of mine who own such firms too,” Sahu had said.