Congress to gherao Raj Bhavans on June 16 after police forcibly enters party HQ

The Congress leaders warned the Centre and the police over the incident, saying the police action was like trampling upon the Constitution. “We are peace-loving but don’t test our patience. The Centre and the police will have to account for this atrocity. We demand FIRs and departmental action against all such police officers who did this,” said Surjewala.

New Delhi:A furious Congress on Wednesday warned the Centre and the Delhi Police hours after the police forcibly entered the party’s national headquarters and beat-up party workers. “The BJP’s central government and the police backed by it broke open the gates of the party headquarters, entered the premises, and beat up our workers,” Congress communication chief Randeep Surjewala said.

“This has not happened in the past 75 years. How could they do this? This was an act of Goondaism. This was done at the behest of the BJP,” he said. The Congress leaders warned the Centre and the police over the incident, saying the police action was like trampling upon the Constitution. “We are peace-loving but don’t test our patience. The Centre and the police will have to account for this atrocity. We demand FIRs and departmental action against all such police officers who did this,” said Surjewala.

In protest against the Centre’s highhandedness, the Congress will stage sit-ins outside the Governor Houses across the country on June 16 and at the district headquarters on July 17. “We will protest against the Centre’s highhandedness by staging sit-ins outside the Governor Houses on June 16 and at the district headquarters on July 17 across the country,” said Surjewala.

The Congress leader said that the party was peacefully protesting the questioning of party leader Rahul Gandhi by the ED which had called the leader for the third consecutive day. Blaming the Centre for deploying the probe agency to deliberately harass the Gandhis, the Congress leader said the party was against the selected targeting of its leadership as the National Herald money laundering case had been closed by the agencies in 2015 but reopened again at the behest of the BJP.

“We challenge the PM to come to the ED office and ask questions from Rahul Gandhi over the NH in front of TV cameras so that the world can see the truth,” he said. He said the probe agency was asking silly questions to Rahul Gandhi like why did you pay electricity bills or why did you pay Rs 67 crore salaries to the employees of the newspaper. “Yes, we deposited the electricity bills. Yes, we paid salaries to the employees. Because it is our paper. It was launched during the freedom movement and it is our duty to protect it,” said Surjewala.

“Listen the BJP leaders. This is our paper, our money, and our decision to run it. Why are you bothered,” he said. The Congress leader said the Centre was trying to defame the Gandhis as it wanted to suppress the voice of Rahul who was asking questions over the lack of jobs from the government.

“This probe is a ploy to deflect attention from the burning issues affecting the people. The Centre wants to avoid these questions,” said Surjewala. He said that the party respected the PM as an institution and that no Congress workers should make any derogatory remarks against the leader. But alleged that the same police had treated a woman MP shabbily by dragging her on the road and beating her up. Other senior leaders like P Chidambaram, Pramod Tiwari and Anil Bhardwaj were attacked by the police on Monday.