The Congress on Thursday interpreted the raids by the Enforcement Directorate as the most tangible sign of the BJP’s “political weakness”, arguing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had realised it would be difficult to win elections without the help of central agencies.

The ED raided Rajasthan Congress president Govind Dotasara and issued a summons to Vaibhav Gehlot, son of chief minister Ashok Gehlot, in a 12-year-old case under the Foreign Exchange Management Act over investments in a hotel.

Assembly elections in Congress-ruled Rajasthan are scheduled next month.

The raids on Dotasara were allegedly linked to investigations into the leak of exam papers when he was education minister. Exam paper leaks had been the main issue in BJP-ruled Gujarat in the 2022 Assembly elections but the ED did not intervene.

There have been no ED raids in Madhya Pradesh, another BJP-ruled state, despite allegations of recruitment scams and paper leaks. Paper leaks and recruitment irregularities have been reported from Uttar Pradesh as well but the ED has stayed away.

Congress leaders on Thursday alleged duplicity, stressing that the ED had conducted raids in Chhattisgarh almost every other day over the last few months. Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh too votes next month.

In Karnataka, state Congress president D.K. Shivakumar was raided and summoned for questioning in the middle of the campaign.

Raids by the CBI, income-tax authorities and the ED on Congress leaders have become routine during election time. During the 2018 elections, people close to Kamal Nath were raided.

On Thursday, Independent candidate Om Prakash Hudla too was raided by the ED. He was negotiating with both the BJP and the Congress for a ticket. He finally took the Congress ticket, and soon after the ED knocked on his doors.

Chief minister Ashok Gehlot said: “Instead of winning hearts through principles, policies and performance, they have resorted to gundagardi. This is not the first time they have tried to intimidate the Congress by using central agencies. They have created a reign of terror in the country. We will still defeat them.”

The Congress used this opportunity to send out a message of unity by fielding Sachin Pilot to defend the Gehlot government. It was Pilot, not the BJP, who had made the paper leaks a big issue to corner the government six months ago.

But he said on Thursday: “We are all against paper leaks. But the timing is questionable. Our government enacted a strong law, creating provisions for life imprisonment for paper leaks. Our top leaders are being targeted just before the election and that shows the BJP’s political weakness. What was the ED doing all these years? The raids are wholly political.”

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said: “As soon as elections come, ED, CBI, IT become the BJP’s Panna Pramukh. Sensing a clear defeat in Rajasthan, the BJP has played its last card. The ED, so far busy in Chhattisgarh, has now reached Rajasthan to harass Congress leaders. The Modi government’s ‘tanashahi’ is injurious to democracy. We will continue fighting against the misuse of agencies and give the BJP a befitting reply.”

To drive home the point of political vendetta in the guise of a crackdown on corruption, Gehlot recalled how Ajit Pawar was made finance minister of Maharashtra a few days after Modi had publicly described him as a corrupt leader who had looted thousands of crores. There are countless cases in which tainted Congress leaders hounded by the BJP for years were embraced and rewarded with key posts when they crossed over.

The absence of action in BJP-ruled states has also harmed Modi’s credibility. While the BJP’s government in Karnataka was branded a 40-per-cent-commission regime, the Congress has been alleging corruption in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh.

But Modi chooses to deliver sermons to the nation on the corrupt deeds of INDIA parties and his determination to punish them. He hasn’t shown any inclination to address the concerns of bias and duplicity in the fight against corruption.