New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday will hold press conferences across state capitals to build public opinion against ED summons for Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case. The pressers to be addressed by senior leaders like Sachin Pilot in Lucknow, Sanjay Nirupam in Shimla, Nasir Hussain in Patna, Ranjeet Ranjan in Chandigarh and Vivek Tankha in Raipur, will take place a day before nationwide protests that the Congress has planned across the country when Rahul Gandhi will appear before the ED on June 13.
On Monday, all the Congress Working Committee members and party MPs will accompany Rahul to the ED office in Delhi. The state units will protest outside the local ED offices. “This will be a Satyagraha against the ED summons,” AICC general secretary Organisation KC Venugopal, who chaired a meeting to coordinate the protests on Thursday via video conferencing, said.
Sonia Gandhi will appear before the probe agency on June 23. She was to appear before the ED on June 8 but later sought a fresh date as the Congress president was Covid positive and had been advised to take rest by her doctors. According to party insiders, the theme of the pressers on Sunday is to highlight the “political vendetta being unleashed by the BJP” against the Gandhis and the “false” charges of money laundering in the old case.
Read: Congress to protest at ED offices in Mumbai and Nagpur on Jun 13
Leaders will highlight that the Congress high command is being targeted by the Central government for taking on the establishment and alleged misuse of Central probe agencies against several other opposition leaders. “The Central government is attacking democracy through its politics of hatred. The government wants to curb the voice of the opposition through ED notices to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. But, history is proof that the Congress has never bowed down before such forces,” said Pilot.
“The day to peacefully oppose the undemocratic BJP government across the country has come. The Congress is committed to protecting the opposition and democracy,” Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha said. “The summons came in response to the Congress’ plans to start a nationwide 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from October 2, but we are not afraid. The case has no merits,” said Nirupam. Congress leader Manickam Tagore, who will accompany Rahul on June 13, pointed out that the summons had no meaning as there was no FIR in the case. “They are targeting an innocent man,” he said.
Ahead of the nationwide protests on Monday, the party’s Social Media Cell has designed a logo with the slogan ‘Satyameva Jayate’ and a photo of Rahul, which will be displayed by party leaders and workers on their handles and also shared by them on the various social media platforms. “We will face this BJP conspiracy with all our might,” said Rajya Sabha member Ranjeet Ranjan.
