The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday recorded the statement of Congress president Sonia Gandhi for two hours in the National Herald money laundering case and ended the session for the day on her request as she is recovering from Covid, officials said.
Gandhi, 75, arrived at the ED headquarters located at Vidyut Lane flanking A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Road in central Delhi a little after noon escorted by her Z+ category CRPF security cover.
The questioning began around 12:30 pm after completion of some formalities like verification of summons and signature in the attendance sheet, sources said.
She has been allowed to
leave on her request made on medical grounds, sources said. The probe relates to alleged financial irregularities in the Congress-promoted Young Indian Private Limited, which owns the National Herald newspaper.
The Congress, meanwhile, hit out at the government saying it considers Opposition parties as enemies. Several Opposition parties too rallied behind the Congress and issued a joint statement accusing the Narendra Modi government of having “unleashed a relentless campaign of vendetta against its political opponents and critics through the mischievous misuse of investigative agencies”.
Interestingly, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, which joined a meeting of Opposition parties called by the Congress at Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge’s Parliament chamber to coordinate the floor strategy, was a signatory to the joint statement.
“Prominent leaders of a number of political parties have been deliberately targeted and subjected to harassment in an unprecedented manner. We condemn this and resolve to continue and intensify our collective fight against the anti-people, anti-farmers and anti-Constitution policies of the Modi sarkar that is destroying the social fabric of our society,” the statement said.
As many as 75 Congress MPs including Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and several workers were detained by the Delhi Police on Thursday for holding demonstrations against the questioning of the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the National Herald case.
Senior Congress leaders including P Chidambaram, Ajay Maken, Manickam Tagore, KC Venugopal, Adhir Ranjan Chaudhry, Shashi Tharoor, Sachin Pilot, Harish Rawat. Ashok Gehlot, K Suresh and others are detained.
When Congress MPs left from Parliament to Congress headquarters, around 75 MPs were taken by Delhi Police in buses.
Senior Congress leaders, including Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, were at 24, Akbar Road headquarters in solidarity with Gandhi. Addressing a press conference, Gehlot accused the Bjp led government of viewing every Opposition party as its enemy.
Meanwhile, the congress worker protested all over India in front of ED office. Anticipating protests, Delhi Police had set up barricades in the vicinity of Congress headquarters at Akbar road. As Congress workers put up a huge show of strength ahead of Sonia Gandhi’s ED questioning, matters took a violent turn. Workers outside the party HQ broke police barricades.
Talking about the Enforcement Directorate’s questioning of Sonia Gandhi, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “ED said we have no question, you can go, but Sonia ji said that ask as many questions as you have, I am ready to stay till 8-9 pm. Let me make it clear that Sonia ji has not made any request to end the inquiry.”
“The allegations that ED stopped investigation as Sonia Gandhi requested to leave because she is suffering from Covid-19 are baseless. Interrogation ended because ED didn’t have anything to ask. Sonia Gandhi said, she’ll be present at ED office whenever they want,” Jairam Ramesh said