Congress will protest against the Agnipath scheme and the ED summons issued to Rahul Gandhi in a money laundering case.
The Congress will hold a peaceful protest on Monday against the Agnipath scheme and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoning of its former chief Rahul Gandhi. Lakhs of party workers are expected to join the protest.
A delegation of Congress leaders will also meet President Ram Nath Kovind to bring to his notice the alleged manhandling and harassment of party MPs by the Delhi Police during their stir against ED questioning Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald money laundering case.
The ED had allowed Rahul Gandhi’s request to defer his questioning in the case owing to Sonia Gandhi’s hospitalisation. The interim Congress chief has been hospitalised due to Covid complications.
Taking to Twitter, party general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “Tomorrow lakhs of Congress workers across the country will continue peaceful protests against the anti-youth Agnipath scheme and against Modi government’s vendetta politics targeting its MP Rahul Gandhi.
Senior Congress leaders, including Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, party’s leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former finance minister P Chidambaram, MP KC Venugopal, are set to meet President Kovind and apprise him about the “unprovoked manhandling” of party MPs. Congress has called it a violation of democratic norms.
The grand old party had held a ‘Satyagraha’ on Sunday in support of those protesting the government’s Agnipath scheme.
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi had appealed to party leaders and workers not to celebrate his birthday. In a message to them, he had said Saturday night that the youngsters of the country were anguished and protesting on the streets and the Congress workers should stand with them.
NATIONAL HERALD CASE
The ED probe pertains to alleged financial irregularities in Young Indian Private Limited, promoted by the Congress, that owns National Herald. The newspaper is published by Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and owned by Young Indian.
Rahul Gandhi’s mother and Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, who is currently admitted to a hospital here due to Covid, has also been summoned by the agency for questioning in the case on June 23.
The party has said AJL, which was established in 1937, faced huge debts and the Congress, from 2002 to 2011, gave Rs 90 crore to the National Herald newspaper to pay the salaries of the journalists and staffers who worked there.
