Congress launched a scathing attack at the Centre over heightened police activity outside the AICC headquarters and party chief Sonia Gandhi’s residence, following the Enforcement Directorate sealing the premises of Young Indian (YI), in Congress-owned Herald House in the national Capital.
Congress MPs walked out from the Rajya Sabha towards the end of proceedings on Wednesday after the Chair did not permit party leader Mallikarjun Kharge to raise the issue of alleged police barricading outside the residences here of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.
The party has convened a meeting of all Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs at the Congress Parliamentary office on Thursday to discuss the future strategy of the party in the Parliament. The MPas will be giving adjournments motion notice because of the ED related raids on National Herald.
The road to All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters was blocked with the Congress alleging such actions have become a norm rather than an exception while the police said barricades have been erected and its personnel deputed to avoid any untoward situation. This came soon after the ED temporarily sealed the premises of Young Indian (YI) in the Congress-owned National Herald office in Delhi as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation.
Addressing a Press conference, senior Congress chief spokesman Jairam Ramesh called the moves “politics of revenge and threats”, and a plot to distract attention from issues such as unemployment and price rise. Ramesh said the Congress will not be silenced by such tactics, adding these are actions of a frustrated regime.
“Our protests against inflation will go on…The government is trying to create an environment of fear. Fear doesn’t exist in the dictionary of Congress,” Ramesh said joined by senior party leaders Ajay Maken and Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
Singhvi hit out at the ruling dispensation over this move. “We are witnessing a siege mentality in the heart of the capital of the world’s largest democracy,” said Singhvi.
Echoing similar sentiments, Maken said “our voices will not be silenced”. “This regime is losing balance. Congress workers will protest outside the Prime Minister’s residence. We will not retreat despite the pressure you put on us…even if you put us in jail,” Maken added.
While Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Anurag Thakur was replying to the debate on The National Anti-Doping Bill, 2022 in Rajya Sabha, Kharge stood up and said the residences of his party president Sonia Gandhi and former president Rahul Gandhi have been "surrounded by the Delhi Police".
However, Deputy Chairman Harivansh, who was presiding over the proceedings, did not allow him to raise the issue. "If I do not speak in the House, where else will I speak?" Kharge said.
In the meantime, Leader of the House and Union Minister Piyush Goyal too joined the issue, saying the matter does not concern the Rajya Sabha.
"There is an order in the House and the Bill is being discussed. Law is taking its course," Goyal said, taking a jibe on the Congress, saying they should have thought of about the consequences while engaging in such activities, hinting at the money laundering case against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi being probed by the Enforcement Directorate. Amid the uproar, the Congress members walked out of the House.