In New Delhi, Congress President Sonia Gandhi arrives with party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi to appear before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in connection with the National Herald case.
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Sonia Gandhi, the president of the Congress party, was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for a total of two hours on Thursday in connection with an alleged money laundering case involving the National Herald newspaper.
The Congress Party claimed that the action taken by the ED was part of a “vendetta,” and they were successful in getting other opposition parties to join them in attacking the BJP government over the matter.
In the more than two and a half decades that Sonia has spent working in politics, this is the first time that she has worked with an investigating agency. During the same investigation one month ago, the agency questioned Rahul Gandhi for close to 50 hours spread out over the course of five days.
Sonia, who is recovering from Covid-19, arrived at the ED office around noon with her children. Priyanka was allowed to stay at ED headquarters so she could be with her mother if needed. Later, Rahul left.
Several senior Congress leaders and MPs protested outside AICC headquarters at 24, Akbar Road and were taken to police stations. After Sonia’s questioning, most MPs and senior leaders, including Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, were allowed to leave. Several states held protests.
National Herald Case Monday, ED sources said Sonia was questioned again. The same assistant director-level investigator who questioned Rahul questioned her on Thursday. The questioning team included a woman.
Image source: onmanorama.com
Several Opposition parties, with the exception of the Trinamool Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, issued a joint statement in support of Gandhi, accusing the Modi administration of conducting “a relentless campaign of vendetta” against its political opponents and critics “through the mischievous misuse of investigative agencies.” Last month, when Rahul was repeatedly questioned, these parties remained largely silent.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) participated in a meeting of Opposition parties convened by the Congress at the office of Opposition Leader Mallikarjun Kharge and signed the joint statement.
According to TRS sources, the party’s strategy is to thwart Telangana Congress leaders who have recently intensified their attacks on the government of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. On Thursday, leaders of the Telangana Congress, led by state president A Revanth Reddy, demonstrated in Hyderabad.
“The Modi sarkar has unleashed a relentless campaign of vendetta against its political opponents and critics through the mischievous misuse of investigative agencies. 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.
NCP, DMK, SP, CPM, CPI, RSP, TRS, Shiv Sena, RJD, IUML, NC, and MDMK leaders signed. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari, and Shashi Tharoor were with Sonia at the AICC headquarters. Sharma and Azad were missing when the party protested Rahul’s questioning last month. Gehlot accused the government of treating all opposition parties as enemies.
“There are no enemies in politics. There should not be. But they consider the Opposition as enemies. Recently in Hyderabad, Modi spoke about regional parties… he talked about dynasties. They had been talking about Congress-mukt Bharat all along. Now their mantra is Opposition-mukt Bharat so that there is a dictatorship in India. The country is moving forward in that direction,” he said.
“The ED should have gone to her residence to take her responses to their questions,” he said, citing precedent, and added that this is being done to “harass” her.
“All Congress MPs and CWC members have courted mass arrest outside our party headquarters in a show of collective solidarity with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, a target of ‘Vishguru’s’ political vendetta,” said Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh.
His colleague, P Chidambaram, said the ED is not higher than the Supreme Court. “What is it that the ED wants to ‘investigate’ that will not be examined by the SC?” he asked.
Congress denied reports that ED officials ended questioning Sonia’s request. “After 3 pm, the ED had no questions. Despite Mrs. Gandhi’s offer to continue to be questioned, the ED finished today, said Chidambaram.
