Seeing defeat in Rajasthan polls, BJP's last throw of dice: Congress on ED action

New Delhi: Slamming the Centre over the Enforcement Directorate's action against its leaders in Rajasthan, the Congress on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of taking the help of probe agencies in fighting polls and said people would give the BJP a befitting reply.

The ED on Thursday raided the premises of Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra and party candidate from the Mahua assembly seat as part of a money laundering investigation into the alleged exam paper leak case in the poll-bound state, official sources said. It also summoned Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot for questioning in a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) case.

Several party leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, spoke out on the matter.

Kharge alleged that agencies such as the ED, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Income Tax Department become the real 'panna pramukh (party workers)' of the BJP as soon as elections come.

"Seeing its certain defeat in Rajasthan, the Bharatiya Janata Party made its last throw of the dice! After Chhattisgarh, the ED has also entered the election campaign in Rajasthan and started action against Congress leaders," Kharge said.

"The dictatorship of the Modi government is fatal for democracy. We will continue to fight against the misuse of agencies, and the public will give a befitting reply to the BJP," the Congress chief said in a post on X.

Ashok Gehlot added that the Congress launched guarantees for women of Rajasthan on October 25 (Wednesday) and the ED action against Dotasra and Vaibhav Gehlot came just a day later.

"Now you can understand what I have been saying... ED's raids happen everyday in Rajasthan because the BJP does not want women, farmers and poor in the state to get the benefit of the guarantees given by Congress," Gehlot said in a post in Hindi on X.

Elections for the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly will be held on November 25 and results be declared on December 3.

Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera also lashed out at the Union government over the ED action.

"Just last week, Ashok Gehlot ji held a press conference in Delhi and raised questions on the role of central agencies in the elections. Today again, ED has become very active in Rajasthan. Modi ji, contest elections directly, stop taking the help of agencies," Khera said in a post in Hindi on X.

Vaibhav Gehlot has been asked to depose before the federal agency's office either in Jaipur or in New Delhi on Friday, they said.

Senior Congress leader Gehlot last week alleged that the BJP-led Centre is misusing probe agencies to target opposition leaders even after the enforcement of the model code of conduct, and urged Modi and the Election Commission to intervene.

Addressing a press conference here, the Rajasthan chief minister had said the ED and Income Tax raids are being conducted against opposition leaders even after the announcement of assembly polls, and these agencies are losing credibility among people in the country.