They've unleashed terror in country: Rajasthan CM targets BJP after ED action
Jaipur (PTI) Slamming the ED action against his son Vaibhav and Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Thursday accused the BJP of unleashing "terror" in the country.
Gehlot also said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) swung into action after he announced two poll promises on Wednesday for women of the state.
He said that five more promises are also going to be declared on Friday and dared the ED to find five more Congress leaders to take action.
The chief minister also likened the ED action to locust attack and said the ED raids would destroy "BJP's crops".
Gehlot claimed that ED raids happen wherever elections are held. Be it Chhattisgarh, Karnataka or Himachal Pradesh, ED raids happened just before elections, the chief minister said.
"Raids happened but the Congress won the elections. The situation is worrisome. They have unleashed terror in the country," Gehlot said 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 elections," the chief minister asserted.
The ED on Thursday raided the premises of state Congress president 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 agency has also summoned 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.
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.
He said, "The locusts come here from Pakistan and eat the crops. ED will destroy their (BJP's) crops. ED will worsen the condition of BJP... word will spread in every village that (they) are using ED like locusts," he said.
Referring to the 2020 political crisis, Gehlot said that Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah could not topple the Congress government in Rajasthan, hence the state and he (Gehlot) are their target.
"They are targeting me because, be it Prime Minister Modi or Amit Shah, they could not topple the government in Rajasthan. That pain is so terrible for them. Rajasthan is deliberately their biggest target because their attempts failed here," he said.
Gehlot said that the situation in the country is worrying and "terror" is being created through investigative agencies.
"They know that the Congress is going to give seven 'guarantees' (poll promises). Two guarantees were given yesterday in the presence of Priyanka Gandhi. Five more are yet to be announced. Those guarantees will be announced tomorrow," he said.
In a public rally of AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi in Jhunjhunu on Wednesday, CM Gehlot promised two "guarantees" if the Congress is re-elected in the state -- cooking gas cylinders for Rs 500 to 1.05 crore families and an annual honorarium of Rs 10,000 to the woman head of a family in instalments.
Gehlot said that the state investigating agency sent letters to the ED six times in the Sanjeevani Credit Cooperative Society "scam" case but the federal agency was not taking any action.
The CM has been targeting Union minister and Jodhpur MP Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, while accusing him of being involved in the "scam".
The Congress' state in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, and state ministers Mahesh Joshi and Pratap Singh Khachariyawas were among those present at the press conference.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
