From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi along with several party leaders were detained by Delhi Police at the Vijay Chowk here as a march of the MPs to the Rashtrapati Bhawan from the Parliament House to protest, as part of the nationwide protests, against the Enforcement Directorate’s questioning of party president Sonia Gandhi for the second time on Tuesday in the National Herald case.
Rajya Sabha Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who was among those arrested, said all of this is a conspiracy by PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to completely destroy the Opposition and muzzle their voices.
“We had demanded that there be discussion in Parliament on inflation, unemployment, Agnipath GST on essential items & misuse of agencies. Govt rejected it. We said we’ll protest at Rajghat on this, but weren`t permitted. We said that we`ll give a memorandum to President. They didn`t permit,” Kharge said.
Rahul Gandhi was released after being taken to the Parliament Street police station and he reached the Enforcement Directorate where his mother Sonia Gandhi had reached earlier for the interrogation, accompanied by her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Others were taken to the police station at Kingsway camp here. Congress general secretary and chief spokesman Jairam Ramesh tweeted: “Congress coverts the police detention centre at Kingsway Camp Delhi into a brainstorming session of Congress Parliamentary Party on issues of price rise, Agnipath, GST on food items, national security, the falling rupee & other issues concerning the people of India.”
In a related development, 19 Opposition MPs in the Rajya Sabha were on Tuesday suspended for creating pandemonium in the House, a day after four Congress MPs were suspended for the rest of the monsoon session till August 12.
Those suspended in the Rajya Sabha did not have any Congress MP as the suspended belonged to Trinamul Congress, DMK, CPM, CPI and TRS. The House was adjourned for an hour as those suspended staged dharna and refused to leave.
Jairam Rajesh reacted with a tweet: “With the suspension of Opposition MPs from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, it is abundantly clear that Modi Sarkar is no mood to allow the Opposition to raise REAL, URGENT issues being faced by the people of our country in Parliament..”
