Congress leader Harish Rawat on Saturday announced his decision to quit all party posts. His decision came just days after cash and jewellery were seized from his aide’s house by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).A dozen luxury wristwatches and Rs 32 lakh in cash were seized from the premises of Chandan Singh Jeena during the ED raids undertaken on Thursday. Jeena is currently serving as a personal assistant (PA) to Rawat, the former Uttarakhand Chief Minister.The searches by ED were conducted in connection with a money laundering investigation linked to alleged irregularities in a 2016 recruitment examination conducted by the Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission (UKSSSC).Jeena had earlier served as officer on special duty (OSD) during the Congress leader’s tenure as Chief Minister during 2014-17.Rawat said he did not want any controversy involving a close associate to weaken the Congress’ fight against corruption and therefore decided to step down as a member of the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee executive and as a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee.In a social media post in Hindi, Rawat said, “Jeena is an extremely decent, humble and hard-working person. If there is evidence that he tampered with OMR sheets during the recruitment of village development officers or committed any such error, then I am ashamed of this alleged audacious act. However, I do not believe these allegations at all.”The Congress leader said it would be known in due course of time whether a large amount of cash and jewellery had actually been recovered from Jeena’s premises and under what circumstances.Rawat said the Congress and its workers were united in the fight against corruption and that Rahul Gandhi was raising his voice against corruption in the education system through the ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ programme.“The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) usually comes knocking at my door during election times, but this time, an attempt has been made to create a narrative by knocking at the home of one of my associates,” Rawat said.