Congress to protest over #EnforcementDirectorate questioning of #SoniaGandhi in and outside Parliament and across the country.
Congress is set to stage protests inside and outside Parliament on Thursday when party President Sonia Gandhi appears for questioning before the Enforcement Directorate. To express solidarity with the party chief, Congress leaders will orchestrate a march to the Enforcement Directorate office, while demonstrations will be held by party workers across the country.
Senior leaders marked out “a strategy to protest against the misuse of ED”. Congress General Secretary and Communication In-Charge Jairam Ramesh in a tweet said, “Tomorrow as the political vendetta unleashed by the Modi-Shah duo against our top leadership continues, the entire Congress party across the country will demonstrate its collective solidarity with Smt. Sonia Gandhi in a most telling manner.”
Congress leaders refuse to disclose details of their plans, but the Delhi Congress will stage a protest march outside Raj Bhawan. Senior leaders of the party met at the residence of the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, and discussed strategy for Thursday. “Today, the whole country is witnessing political vendetta, dictatorship, and hooliganism of the Modi government. But we are not afraid of puppets like ED-CBI,” Congress said in a tweet.
Protests are planned in different parts of the country on Thursday, as Congress has maintained that the Enforcement Directorate summons to the party chief and former party president Rahul Gandhi is politically motivated. While Congress MPs will stage a protest in Parliament, leaders have also urged other Opposition parties to join them. Opposition parties have been united in protesting against the GST hike and price rise on the first three days of the Monsoon Session, stalling business in both Houses. While a number of meetings have been held to finalize the strategy for Thursday, discussions continue and more meetings will be held ahead of the questioning tomorrow, said sources. Protests have also been planned by several state units of Congress.
The Congress president was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate on June 23 in a money laundering case, however, as she was recuperating from post-Covid health issues, the questioning was postponed.
Party leader Rahul Gandhi has already appeared for questioning at the ED for five days, and has been questioned for over 50 hours. As per the complaint filed in the court of the Metropolitan Magistrate, Associated Journals Limited (AJL) took an interest-free loan of Rs 90.25 crore from Indian National Congress, which was not paid back. Congress has maintained there is no money laundering involved and has called the summon a politically-motivated move by the Narendra Modi-led government.
गांधी डरते नहीं .. #SoniaGandhi pic.twitter.com/jPBMWxEYV9
— Niraj Bhatia (@bhatia_niraj23) July 20, 2022
Congress to protest across nation tomorrow
Mr @Jairam_Ramesh :
Tomorrow as political vendetta unleashed by Modi-Shah duo against our top leadership continues, entire Congress across country will demonstrate its collective solidarity with Mrs #SoniaGandhi in most telling manner
— Supriya Bhardwaj (@Supriya23bh) July 20, 2022