Pawan Khera backs Surjewala, calls ED raids a ‘witch hunt’ by BJP

On Wednesday, senior Congress figure Pawan Khera took to X – the platform formerly known as Twitter – to throw his full weight behind AICC General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala. The duo, both seasoned politicians from Karnataka, described a spate of Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids on party leaders as nothing more than a politically‑motivated witch hunt orchestrated by the BJP‑led centre.

Khera’s post was peppered with a mix of frustration and defiant optimism. He wrote that the raids, far from proving any financial misdeed, merely exposed the ruling party’s insecurity. “Randeep Ji has exposed the BJP’s insecurity in Karnataka with just one post. The long list of ED raids is hardly evidence of any ‘wrongdoing’ by the Karnataka Congress,” he typed, adding that the BJP and its JD(S) ally were trying to “intimidate, arm‑twist and politically harass” Congress officials.

He went on to praise Karnataka’s incumbent Congress government, saying it remained “firm under the collaborative and able leadership of Shri DK Shivakumar.” According to Khera, the more the BJP and JD(S) try to manufacture a scandal, the clearer it becomes that they are “desperate, insecure and politically bankrupt.”

Surjewala, who had earlier posted a similar missive, singled out the recent raid on veteran ST leader Satish Jarkiholi as a textbook example of the central government’s vendetta. He reminded followers that the Modi administration had been on the losing side of elections in the state, and that the ensuing raids were a retaliatory tactic rather than a genuine anti‑corruption drive.

In his thread, Surjewala listed a litany of Congress heavyweights who had allegedly faced ED scrutiny over the past three years – Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and his brother DK Suresh, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, ministers Zameer Ahmed Khan and B Nagendra, plus several MPs and MLAs. He also noted that prosecution sanctions against Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy, BJP stalwart Renukacharya and the late Janardhan Reddy were still pending before the Karnataka Governor.

Both leaders made it clear that these legal maneuvers would not deter them. “We will not bow down, we will not cower,” Surjewala declared, insisting that Congress would continue to deliver on its election promises to the people of Karnataka.

The statements came amid an escalating political standoff in the state, where the BJP‑JD(S) alliance has been accusing the Congress government of corruption, while Congress retorts that the raids are merely a tool of intimidation. As the drama unfolds, the narrative each side pushes seems destined to shape voter sentiment ahead of the next electoral cycle.