Congress to stage protest in front of ED offices tomorrow

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D.K. Shivakumar on Saturday announced that the party would stage a protest in front of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) offices all over the country, including Bengaluru, on Monday. He added that Congress would be demonstrating against what he described as harassment of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in the National Herald case.

“Congress party’s leaders will protest against the unnecessary harassment of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case in front of ED offices in all parts of the country on June 13,” Shivakumar said. The protest led by Shivakumar shall be held at 10 am in front of the ED office in Shanti Nagar near Double Road, the party said.

Protests will also be held in Delhi and All India Congress Committee (AICC) members are expected to participate, it added. “The Bengaluru protest should witness participation from a large number of people. This is my request. All of the party’s lawmakers, leaders and workers should take part in this protest,” the KPCC president said. “We will not enter the offices. We will be protesting to express the pain of the people of the nation,” he added. Shivakumar said that several district and block Congress would travel to the city to take part in the protest. “The BJP government has set aside the actual National Herald case and is going after the Gandhi family. They have started this investigation with the express purpose of troubling the Gandhis,” he said.

JDS in pain

When queried about the remarks by former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy that Congress leaders had voted for BJP candidates in the recent Rajya Sabha polls, he said the JDS is smarting after their losses. “Those who are in pain, lash out in pain. Those who are happy, speak in happy tones. They utilize their own words. However we accept all of these responses happily,” Shivakumar said.

He issued the cryptic response in reply to a question about Congress MLAs cross-voting for BJP Rajya Sabha candidates, a charge the KPCC president vehemently denied. BJP on Friday bagged three of the four Upper House seats up for grabs as Congress won one.

Right after the results came out, Kumaraswamy had termed Congress “BJP’s real B team” and went so far as to allege that Siddaramaiah had connived with the BJP to ensure Congress minority candidate Mansoor Khan lost. Shivakumar insisted that Congress MLAs had neither voted for the BJP, nor encouraged cross voting from lawmakers of other parties, calling it mere moral support across party lines. “We had the support from different parties. This is why we asked for a conscience vote,” he added.