JAIPUR/NEW DELHI: BJP unfailingly switches to “Plan E” after “A, B, C and D fail”, deploying the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as “an electoral locust to destroy its rivals’ winning crop” wherever the party’s defeat is inevitable, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot alleged on Thursday.
Gehlot let fly a barrage of barbs at BJP soon after his son Vaibhav Gehlot was summoned in a 12-year-old case under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, coinciding with the ED raiding the Jaipur and Sikar homes of state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra.
“Congress gave the women of Rajasthan two guarantees yesterday, and BJP sent ED to two places today. We will declare five more guarantees on Friday; there may be a shortage of ED staff to raid so many places,” Gehlot said.
The raids on Dotasra’s residences were part of the ED’s probe into the paper leaks last year that stalled exams for recruitment to government vacancies.
“Yeh goondagardi hai (this is hooliganism)…Without pressure from the top, neither ED nor CBI can come,” Gehlot said at a news conference in Jaipur. “The wind is blowing in favour of Congress in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, so raids are being conducted regularly.”
The CM’s son alleged a “well-thought-out conspiracy” to entrap him. “The public is watching how Congress is being bullied by the central government. The ED summons reached me around 3.30pm on Wednesday, asking me to report at the agency’s office at 11am today. I was given less than 24 hours to appear before it,” he said.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge termed the move “BJP’s last throw of the dice” as the electoral endgame nears.
Gehlot’s former deputy Sachin Pilot, with whom he has been engaged in a running battle for the top post, said the ED raids were proof of BJP “losing all hope” of ousting Congress in the state.
ED action against big fish worrying those in govt: BJP
BJP on Thursday said Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and other Congress leaders were trying to “politicise” the Enforcement Directorate’s action as it had moved in to catch the “big fish” who were involved in the examination paper leak case. Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said, “Ashok Gehlot is frustrated with action against corruption because his government has broken all limits of corruption. His own party leaders, MLAs, advisor and minister have said that this is the most corrupt government of the century.”
Shekhawat said a series of government recruitment exam paper leaks took place in Rajasthan, putting the future of lakh of youths in the dark, but the Gehlot government kept covering up the “corruption” and denied the involvement of “officials and political persons”.
“Retired Rajasthan Anti Corruption Bureau chief B L Soni had admitted that the government used to stop them from catching the big fish. Now, when the ED has started taking action against these big fish, definitely those sitting in the government are finding the ground under their feet shaking,” Shekhawat said.
The ED action had raised hopes of justice among men and women who had to suffer due to a series of examination paper leaks in the state, Shekhawat added.
“This is the Narendra Modi government’s resolve from day one that we will not tolerate corruption under any circumstances,” he said.
Shekhawat said when the ED investigated Gehlot’s son for certain economic irregularities, it was found that the links extended to Mauritius and then returned to India through a process of lending and borrowing, aimed at converting black money into white. The Union minister also said people were attempting to launder black money by circulating it through various channels to make it appear legitimate.
Gehlot let fly a barrage of barbs at BJP soon after his son Vaibhav Gehlot was summoned in a 12-year-old case under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, coinciding with the ED raiding the Jaipur and Sikar homes of state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra.
“Congress gave the women of Rajasthan two guarantees yesterday, and BJP sent ED to two places today. We will declare five more guarantees on Friday; there may be a shortage of ED staff to raid so many places,” Gehlot said.
The raids on Dotasra’s residences were part of the ED’s probe into the paper leaks last year that stalled exams for recruitment to government vacancies.
“Yeh goondagardi hai (this is hooliganism)…Without pressure from the top, neither ED nor CBI can come,” Gehlot said at a news conference in Jaipur. “The wind is blowing in favour of Congress in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, so raids are being conducted regularly.”
The CM’s son alleged a “well-thought-out conspiracy” to entrap him. “The public is watching how Congress is being bullied by the central government. The ED summons reached me around 3.30pm on Wednesday, asking me to report at the agency’s office at 11am today. I was given less than 24 hours to appear before it,” he said.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge termed the move “BJP’s last throw of the dice” as the electoral endgame nears.
Gehlot’s former deputy Sachin Pilot, with whom he has been engaged in a running battle for the top post, said the ED raids were proof of BJP “losing all hope” of ousting Congress in the state.
ED action against big fish worrying those in govt: BJP
BJP on Thursday said Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and other Congress leaders were trying to “politicise” the Enforcement Directorate’s action as it had moved in to catch the “big fish” who were involved in the examination paper leak case. Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said, “Ashok Gehlot is frustrated with action against corruption because his government has broken all limits of corruption. His own party leaders, MLAs, advisor and minister have said that this is the most corrupt government of the century.”
Shekhawat said a series of government recruitment exam paper leaks took place in Rajasthan, putting the future of lakh of youths in the dark, but the Gehlot government kept covering up the “corruption” and denied the involvement of “officials and political persons”.
“Retired Rajasthan Anti Corruption Bureau chief B L Soni had admitted that the government used to stop them from catching the big fish. Now, when the ED has started taking action against these big fish, definitely those sitting in the government are finding the ground under their feet shaking,” Shekhawat said.
The ED action had raised hopes of justice among men and women who had to suffer due to a series of examination paper leaks in the state, Shekhawat added.
“This is the Narendra Modi government’s resolve from day one that we will not tolerate corruption under any circumstances,” he said.
Shekhawat said when the ED investigated Gehlot’s son for certain economic irregularities, it was found that the links extended to Mauritius and then returned to India through a process of lending and borrowing, aimed at converting black money into white. The Union minister also said people were attempting to launder black money by circulating it through various channels to make it appear legitimate.