Maharashtra BJP MP Says Probe Agency "Won't Come After Me Because..."

Days after a BJP leader talked about "sleeping soundly" since he joined the party because there were "no inquiries", his colleague has bragged that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will not come after him. "The ED won't come after me since I am a BJP MP," Sanjay Patil, a BJP MP from Maharashtra's Sangli, said on Sunday.

Mr Patil's comments at a public function come at a time the opposition has accused the Centre of using investigating agencies to target their leaders and settle political scores.

Mr Patil is not the first BJP member to make such a comment.

Earlier this month, a similar pronouncement came from another Maharashtra leader, Harshvardhan Patil, who quit the Congress and joined the BJP in 2019.

"We too had to go to BJP. He (referring to someone from the opposition sitting next to him on stage) asked why I joined the BJP. I told him to ask his leader why I went to BJP. ....Everything is easy-going and peaceful (in BJP). I get sound sleep as there are no inquiries," Harshvardhan Patil was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

After his remarks went viral, the four-time MLA from Indapur in Maharashtra later claimed that he was misinterpreted.

"I made a statement while I had gone to Maval for a hotel inauguration day before yesterday. That statement is being misinterpreted, which is why I am here to give clarification," he told the media.

Mr Patil said he had joined the BJP because he was denied a ticket that was promised to him.