Sachin Pilot's Rare Show Of Support For Ashok Gehlot As ED Summons Rajasthan CM's Son In Forex Violation Case

Congress leader Sachin Pilot has expressed his support for his intra-party rival Ashok Gehlot by condemning the Enforcement Directorate's summons to Gehlot's son, Vaibhav Gehlot.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday (26 October) summoned Rajasthan CM's son Vaibhav in foreign exchange violation case. He has to appear before the ED tomorrow either in Jaipur or in New Delhi. 

Pilot emphasised that the BJP's tactics cannot intimidate Congress leaders and stated that all party leaders and workers in Rajasthan were "standing together in solidarity".

"I strongly condemn the ED raid on Rajasthan Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasara. ED summons has also been given to Vaibhav Gehlot, son of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. BJP cannot scare Congress leaders with such tactics. All the leaders and workers of the state Congress are standing together in solidarity," Pilot wrote on X, Hindustan Times reported.

He added that such actions display BJP's nervousness over the Rajasthan assembly elections.

"BJP's nervousness is clearly visible due to such action, because the public has made up its mind to bring Congress government back in Rajasthan in the upcoming elections," he said.

This comes after Ashok Gehlot recently recalled the unsuccessful "attempt to topple his government in 2020", ostensibly led by Pilot.

"They tried to topple my government this time but they failed. They thought that they would succeed here as well, but they had no idea who they were dealing with” Gehlot said.

In July 2020, Pilot, along with 18 other Congress MLAs, staged a revolt against Gehlot. The party leadership intervened and the revolt came to an end, resulting in Pilot being removed from his positions as deputy chief minister and state Congress president.

Referring to ED's raids at Rajasthan Congress Chief Govind Singh Dotasara's house, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge accused the central agencies of becoming the BJP's "Panna Pramukh".

"As elections are around the corner, ED, CBI, IT have become the real 'Panna Pramukh' of BJP. Seeing its certain defeat in Rajasthan, the Bharatiya Janata Party made its last move! After Chhattisgarh, ED has also started action against Congress leaders entering the assembly election campaign in Rajasthan," Kharge said.

“The dictatorship of the Modi government is fatal for democracy. We will continue to fight against the misuse of agencies," he added.

Dotasara's residence is currently undergoing a search operation in relation to the investigation of the paper leak incident for the Senior Teacher 2nd Grade Competitive Examination, 2022.

Gehlot accused the BJP of deliberately obstructing the distribution of his government's welfare schemes to the public.

"Date 25/10/23- Congress launches guarantees for women of Rajasthan. Date 26/10/23 -ED raid on Rajasthan Congress President Govind Singh Ji Dotasara - Summons to my son Vaibhav Gehlot to appear in ED", the Rajasthan CM wrote in an 'X' post.

He added that the daily ED raids in Rajasthan are a deliberate attempt by the BJP to prevent women, farmers, and the poor from benefiting from the guarantees provided by the Congress.