New Delhi: Congress leader and former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot has said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s actions in the poll-bound state on Thursday (October 26) will not see any desertions from the party to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).On Thursday, chief minister Ashok Gehlot accused the BJP of “goondagardi” (hooliganism) after the ED issued summons to his son, Vaibhav Gehlot, and conducted raids on state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra.The chief minister’s son has been summoned in connection with the recent ED raids against Rajasthan-based hospitality group Triton Hotels & Resorts Pvt. Ltd., Vardha Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. and its directors and promoters Shiv Shankar Sharma, Rattan Kant Sharma, and others.The raids on Dotasra in Sikar and Jaipur are in connection with a money laundering investigation into an exam paper leak case.In response to a question asked by The Wire at a press conference in New Delhi, about whether the ED actions have raised concerns about leaders leaving the party and the BJP being in touch with them, as has been seen in several opposition states where the leaders under the scanner of central agencies have joined the BJP (most recently in Maharashtra), Pilot said that the ED’s actions will not have any such fallout.“Now elections are so close, any individual who wanted to or has to leave the political party may have already done so. I don’t think these actions are going to have a fallout where people will now want to leave or join parties. Before every election, some individuals leave the parties and some join other parties. It is a very natural thing that happens in almost every state in every election. I don’t give it too much credence, these things may happen,” he told The Wire.“We will fight the elections based on our performance in the last five years and what we intend to do in the next five years. I am yet to see a roadmap from the BJP for the next five years – this is our blueprint, this is the work that we will do. They make allegations but don’t look within themselves and don’t probe their own leaders and only target the Congress without any agenda or roadmap for the state of Rajasthan. How will people believe that? The BJP has lost every by-election in these last five years. Even today the amount of chaos that is happening within the BJP – it is not for me to comment on the internal politics – but the fact of the matter is that there is huge unrest in its own cadre. But that is for them to deal with. I am just saying that we are fighting this election unitedly, we are fighting because we work on the grassroots.”“And whatever the Congress party manifesto was, we have tried to achieve most of what we announced in the manifesto. We have announced two guarantees yesterday (October 25) and will announce more. We are campaigning very aggressively based on issues. We are not doing personalised targeting using unparliamentary language to attack our opponents. We are fighting on people’s issues and what we have done and what we will do. I am very confident that no matter what happens the Congress party will secure a very substantial mandate in the elections.”Earlier, while addressing the press conference, Pilot said that the ED action, while the model code of conduct is in place in Rajasthan, shows that the BJP-led Union government is attempting to intimidate the opposition by misusing central agencies.“The actions taken by the agencies of the Government of India in Jaipur and other cities today… The timing, purpose, and intent of those actions are completely questionable,” he said.He said that the action has come as the BJP is losing the upcoming elections in five states that go to the polls next month, including Rajasthan.“If they were winning these elections, then such action would not be taking place. This is not the first time that the states going to election are being targeted. When elections end these cases also disappear from headlines. This does not bode well for Indian democracy.“What has happened today, the whole state has seen. This action is politically motivated.”Earlier on Thursday, at a press conference, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said that the Rajasthan government has “crossed all milestones of corruption.”Pilot said that the Congress government in Rajasthan is against corruption. “But the ED is acting and the BJP is giving an explanation. They are using central agencies as political weapons,” he said.
