Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday showed solidarity with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar who has been named by the Enforcement Directorate in a money-laundering case along with his nephew Ajit Pawar.

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Rahul termed the development just before the Maharashtra election smacking of "political opportunism" by a "vindictive government".

"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," Rahul tweeted.

Pawar, who finally decided against going to ED's office after the investigating agencies advised him not to due to security reasons, thanked Rahul and other opposition parties for showing solidarity and standing with him. The NCP is contesting the Maharashtra Assembly elections in alliance with Congress.

Both Congress and NCP have questioned the timing of the case as campaigning peaks for Maharashtra polls, in which they are pitted against the ruling BJP and the Shiv Sena.

Refuting the allegations of political vendetta, Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said that a probe in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam was first launched by the Congress-led government that was running on the advice of Sharad Pawar.

"This case dates back to 2010 when the Congress-NCP government, which was running on the advice of Sharad Pawar, was in power...When then chief minister Prithviraj Chavan suspected some wrongdoing, he initiated inquiry by setting up a committee," Patil said.

Later someone went to the High Court, saying that no proper inquiry was being carried out. And it was on the direction of the court that an FIR was registered recently, Patil pointed out.