After the Enforcement Directorate (ED) simultaneously conducted raids on the residences of several Congress leaders in connection with a paper leak case, the politics of the state came under a sort of turbulence. The Congress leaders targeted by the ED include Govind Singh Dotasara, the president of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress, and Om Prakash Hudla, an MLA candidate.
Additionally, ED issued a summons to Vaibhav Gehlot, the son of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, requesting his appearance at their headquarters due to a violation of the FEMA Act 1999. The summons required Vaibhav Gehlot to present himself at the headquarters with the necessary documents to clarify his situation.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot publicly disclosed the ED summons received by Vaibhav Gehlot through his social media platforms. He also shared two photos, one from a program in Jhunjhunu with Priyank Gandhi and another depicting the ED’s joint action against Dotasara and Hudla.
CM Gehlot tweeted, “On 25/10/23, Congress launched its guarantee for the women of Rajasthan. On 26/10/23, ED conducted a raid on Rajasthan Congress President Govind Singh Ji Dotasara and issued a summons to my son Vaibhav Gehlot to appear before ED. Now, you can understand why these ED raids are happening in Rajasthan. The BJP doesn’t want the women, farmers, and the poor of Rajasthan to benefit from the guarantees provided by the Congress.” Furthermore, CM Gehlot asserted that the BJP is using the ED as a tool to intimidate Congress leaders in an attempt to prevent their defeat.
For a considerable amount of time, both the Income Tax and the ED have been scrutinising the paperwork related to Congress State President Govind Singh Dotasara and other Congress leaders. Dotasara has vocally criticised the BJP regarding these investigations, stating that they are eagerly awaiting the ED and Income Tax actions. He argued that those who have committed wrongdoings are fearful of these agencies, while they are simply waiting to see when the ED will act.
On Thursday morning, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted simultaneous raids at various locations associated with State Congress President Govind Singh Dotasra and Congress candidate for the Mahwa Assembly seat, Omprakash Hudla. These actions were related to the paper leak case. The ED teams visited Hudla’s residence at Hudla Petrol Pump on Mahwa Mandawar Road in Dausa district, a hotel in Mahwa, and a residence in Jaipur. There are also reports of raids on the homes of some of Hudla’s associates.
Om Prakash Hudla hails from Hudla village in the Mahwa tehsil of Dausa district. He is well-known on social media and comes from a family of farmers. Before entering politics, Om Prakash Hudla served as an officer in the Customs Department. Om Prakash Hudla is known to have close ties with Vasundhara Raje. In 2013, he entered politics and won the assembly elections from Mahwa on a BJP ticket, defeating Golma Devi, the wife of Kirori Lal Meena, who had defected from the BJP to join Rajpa. After his victory, Om Prakash Hudla became a Parliamentary Secretary in the government of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.
Kirori Lal Meena returned to the BJP just before the 2018 assembly elections, creating a rivalry between him and Hudla. Despite Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s initial support for Hudla to contest from Mahwa, the BJP eventually replaced him with Kirori Lal Meena’s nephew, Rajendra Meena. Hudla claimed that his ticket was canceled due to Kirori Lal Meena’s influence. According to Hudla, when Kirori rejoined the BJP, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had asked him to contest the elections from Mahwa, but this did not materialize. Consequently, Hudla rebelled against the BJP, ran as an independent candidate, and won the election by defeating Rajendra Meena.
After winning the election as an independent, Hudla came in support of Gehlot. This time Congress has played a big gamble by giving ticket to Omprakash Hudla. Omprakash Hudla is contesting from Mahuva general assembly seat for the third consecutive time. Congress has lost four consecutive elections on this seat. There is anger among the workers over giving Congress ticket to independent MLA Om Prakash Hadla from Mahwa Assembly seat. It is being said that some people from Congress have provided evidence to ED against Dotasara and Hudla. Similarly, evidence against Vaibhav Gehlot has also been leaked from the Congress camp.