Sachin Pilot backs Ashok Gehlot as ED summons CM's son

In a rare show of support to Ashok Gehlot, Congress leader Sachin Pilot has condemned the Enforcement Directorate's summons to the Rajasthan chief minister's son, Vaibhav Gehlot.

Pilot said the BJP cannot scare Congress leaders with such tactics and that all the leaders and workers of the party in Rajasthan were "standing together in solidarity".

"Raids happened but the Congress won the elections. The situation is worrisome. They have unleashed terror in the country," Gehlot told reporters at a press conference here.

Asserting that the Congress "will not be scared no matter how hard they try, he alleged the BJP was targeting him through ED raids as they could not topple his government.

"We will win the election," the Rajasthan chief minister asserted.

Citing data, Gehlot said that 112 searches by the ED happened during 10 years of UPA rule and charge sheets were filed in 104 cases. But after 2014, as many as 3,010 raids happened and charge sheets were filed in 881 cases, he said.

The Congress' state in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, state ministers Mahesh Joshi and Pratap Singh Khachariyawas were among those also present at the press conference.

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday raided the premises of Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra and Omprakash Hudla, the party's candidate from Mahua assembly seat, as part of a money laundering probe into the alleged exam paper leak case in the poll-bound state.

The federal probe agency has also summoned Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot for questioning in a case related to alleged contravention of the foreign exchange law.

After the raids, Congress workers sat on a dharna in Sikar and Jaipur and raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.