Congress MPs to hold meeting today over ED probe against Rahul Gandhi, Agnipath Scheme

Congress is all set to raise its voice on Monday over the Enforcement Directorate's probe against Rahul Gandhi in a money laundering case and the Centre's newly launched Agnipath recruitment scheme.

New Delhi: Congress MPs will hold a meeting at the Parliamentary Party office in Parliament on Monday over the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) probe against Rahul Gandhi in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper and the Centre's newly launched Agnipath recruitment scheme. Congress held a 'Satyagraha' at Jantar Mantar in the national capital on Monday to mark their protest over both these issues. Top Congress leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, Salman Khurshid, K Suresh, V Narayanasamy, KC Venugopal and others were present at Congress' Satyagraha at Jantar Mantar.

As the protests continue, the Twitter handle of the Congress party on behalf of Rahul Gandhi wrote, "People who make false promises of providing employment to two crore youth every year, are forcing the youth of the country to walk on the 'firepath' of unemployment. The situation is deteriorating all around the country at this time, only and only the Prime Minister is responsible for it."

Mallikarjun Kharge also lashed out at the Centre over the Agnipath scheme. He tweeted today, "For the first time in 75 years, service chiefs are being fronted to defend a policy decision by the government. Why are the Prime Minister, Home Minister and Defence Minister quiet on the Agnipath scheme?"

Over 80 trains have been cancelled and massive traffic jams are being witnessed across Delhi-NCR on Monday as some organisations have called for a "Bharat Bandh" to mark their protest against the Agnipath recruitment scheme unveiled by the Central government last week. This comes a day after Tri-service chiefs ruled out the withdrawal of the scheme.

The commuters in the national capital experienced difficulties in commuting as heavy traffic jams were reported in various parts of the city including at the Delhi-Gurugram expressway as Delhi Police installed barricades at various checkpoints in wake of the Bharat Bandh against the Agnipath Scheme. Precautionary measures are being taken at various railway stations in many states as several stations were vandalised and many trains were set ablaze by agitators.

The Union Cabinet on June 14 approved a recruitment scheme for Indian youth to serve in the three services of the Armed Forces called Agnipath and the youth selected under this scheme will be known as Agniveers. After the policy, which allows Indian youths to serve in the regular cadre of the Armed Forces for a period of four years, was announced on June 14, protests erupted in various states including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand and Assam.

As the agitation intensified in some places, protestors went on the rampage setting trains on fire, torching vehicles and damaging both private and public properties. Protests have disrupted rail services in several parts of the country. A total of 491 train services have been affected throughout the country due to the ongoing agitation, informed railway officials on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday rejoined Enforcement Directorate's (ED) ongoing investigation in connection with an alleged money laundering case related to the National Herald newspaper for the fourth day. The Lok Sabha member from Wayanad in Kerala arrived at ED headquarters at around 11.10 am accompanied by his sister Priyanka Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi was questioned by the ED for over 27 hours on three straight days from June 13 to June 15. The Congress leader was deposed before the ED investigators in the case for the first time on June 13. He first sought exemption from appearance on June 16, following which he was called on June 17. But the senior Congress leader wrote to the ED to postpone his questioning citing the illness of his mother Sonia Gandhi. The ED then allowed him to join the probe on June 20 on his request. (ANI)