With the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Wednesday conducting searches on the premises linked to Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi, three prominent Congress leaders from the Valmiki community have, at different points, come under the scrutiny of investigating agencies.Earlier casesCongress MLA B. Nagendra was arrested by the ED in July 2024 in connection with the Valmiki corporation money-laundering case, following which the agency filed its prosecution complaint. The CBI has also chargesheeted him in the case.Former Minister and Congress MLA K.N. Rajanna was questioned by the ED in 2019 when he was chairman of the Karnataka State Cooperative Apex Bank in connection with certain loan transactions. Mr. Rajanna had maintained at the time that the questioning did not amount to a probe against him personally.Mr. Jarkiholi, however, is politically the most consequential of the three. He has a substantial organisational and electoral base in northern Karnataka and has emerged as one of the Congress’s most prominent Scheduled Tribe faces in the State.The fact that three prominent Valmiki leaders of the Congress have faced scrutiny by Central probe agencies could present an uncomfortable political optics for the ruling party. The latest development has come at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party launched its padayatra to Ballari and targeted the Congress government.