SRINAGAR/JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir Congress on Thursday held protests against party president Sonia Gandhi’s questioning by the Enforcement Directorate, alleging vendetta politics by the ruling BJP.
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) working president Raman Bhalla and a number of party leaders and workers were detained in Jammu while trying to take out a protest.
In Srinagar, former Congress legislators and other senior leaders led by G A Mir protested at the party office against Gandhi’s questioning by the ED in a money laundering case related to the National Herald newspaper.
The Congress leaders called it “vendetta politics of the Modi government against the Gandhi family.
Speaking on the occasion, Mir slammed the ED summons to Gandhi in “a concocted National Herald case which has no basis”.
Such vendetta politics won’t deter the leadership from opposing the wrong and anti-people policies of the Modi government,” he said.
Mir said the Congress has always been at the forefront of fighting tyranny.
“The Gandhi family has rendered countless sacrifices and immensely contributed to inclusive development of the nation during the last 70 years, but the present Modi regime at the Centre is unable to digest it.
“So it has started indulging in image tarnishing of Gandhis under the garb of ED summons, which is bound to face humiliating defeat,” he said.
In Jammu, hundreds of Congress leaders and workers led by Bhalla took out a rally from the party headquarters at Saheed-i-Chowk.
However, police put up barricades and did not allow them to proceed further.
Shouting slogans against the government, they tried to break the barricades but were detained by police.
Bhalla, a former minister, and other senior party leaders were bundled into buses and taken to police lines.
“It is a protest against the use of central agencies by the government against the top leadership of the party. It is our resolve to stand by honest and dedicated leaders of our party — Sonia ji and Rahul ji,” Bhalla told reporters. He said that the Congress will not be cowed down by such tactics. (PTI)
