Rahul Gandhi backs Sharad Pawar: As Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar prepares to visit the Enforcement Directorate office in Mumbai in connection with the money laundering case, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has come out in full support of the veteran leader.

Rahul Gandhi said that the action against Pawar just days before Assembly polls clearly suggests that the Modi government is deliberately targeting him. Assembly elections in Maharashtra are scheduled to be held in a single phase on October 21 and results will be declared on October 24.

“Sharad Pawar Ji is the latest Opposition leader to be targeted by a vindictive Government. The timing of this action, a month before elections in Maharashtra, reeks of political opportunism,” the Congress leader said in his tweet.

Though Sharad Pawar has not been summoned by the ED, the 78-year-old leader had said he would appear before the central agency on Friday in connection with a money laundering case, giving his party a platform to put up a show of strength. Sharad Pawar, his nephew Ajit Pawar and others have been named in a complaint filed in Rs 25,000-crore scam in Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB).


The Mumbai Police has imposed Section 144 banning large gatherings in areas around the ED office in Ballard Estate of the city to prevent supporters of Pawar’s NCP from creating a ruckus during their leader’s appearance before the agency. The NCP had held a protest outside the ED office earlier this week against naming the party chief in the case.

Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar has appealed party workers for calm and asked them not to gather outside the ED office today. The ED has asked Pawar not to visit its office.