After the Congress was denied the permission to hold a Satyagraha march in the national capital, party leader Sachin Pilot on Monday said attempts were being made by the Centre to suppress the voices of people of different ideologies.
“We had tried to take out a march in a Gandhian and peaceful manner but permission was not given in Delhi. People are seeing the way they are misusing the central agencies. Cases which were already closed 7-8 years ago, have been filed against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and all other leaders,” Pilot told mediapersons here.
“The politics of putting pressure on the political opponents is going on. There are so many important issues in the country but efforts are being made to suppress the voice of people of different ideologies. Congress has nothing to hide,” he said. The Congress earlier announced that it had planned a march from party headquarters to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office and would hold ‘satyagrahas’ outside the ED offices in States in solidarity with Rahul Gandhi.
Huge police deployment was seen outside the Enforcement Directorate office on this morning with some Congress workers being detained outside party headquarters. According to sources, Congress MPs, and Congress Working Committee (CWC) members have also been asked to be present in Delhi on Monday for the rally.
Delhi Police, however, denied permission to the Congress rally. The Delhi police cited law and order behind the denial of the permission for the rally. Police have been deployed outside Rahul Gandhi’s residence additional security forces have been also deployed outside the Enforcement Directorate office in the national capital.
Rahul Gandhi has been summoned to join the investigation on June 13. He was earlier summoned to join the investigation but he was out of the country and later he was given a fresh date of June 13 to join the probe. The ED on Friday issued a fresh summons to Sonia Gandhi asking her to appear on June 23 for questioning in connection with the National Herald money laundering case.Congress has alleged that it is a “political vendetta” and the case has no grounds for investigation.
The ED also questioned senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress Treasurer Pawan Bansal in April this year in New Delhi in connection with its money laundering probe into the National Herald case. The agency then recorded the statements of both the Congress leaders under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The National Herald is published by Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and owned by Young Indian Private Limited (YIL). While Kharge is the CEO of YIL, Bansal is the Managing Director of AJL.
The ED is currently investigating the shareholding pattern and financial transactions as well as the role of party functionaries in the functioning of the AJL and YIL. The YIL promoters include Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
