Pics: Spoorthi Ullal/Harshini Brahmavar
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru/Udupi (ANK/HB)
Mangaluru/Udupi, Jul 22: The district Congress units of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, staged protest against the BJP-led central government and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday July 22 as Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi was questioned by the ED authorities in connection with an alleged money laundering case related to the National Herald newspaper.
Addressing the protestors in Mangaluru at the clock tower here, former MLC Ivan D’Souza said, “We strongly condemn the ED’s notice to Sonia Gandhi to appear before them in an alleged money laundering case. We extend support to our leader Sonia Gandhi.”
Mangaluru
Udupi
Former minister Ramanath Rai said, “The central government has hatched a political conspiracy against the opposition. This is political vendetta by the ruling party.”
Madhu Bangarappa said, “The BJP is misusing the power through ED, IT and CBI to break down the opposition.”
The Congress leaders took out a protest rally from the clock tower to the DC’s office. The protestors were stopped by the police near the town hall who had set up barricades to avoid their march towards the DC’s office. The protestors were detained.
Meanwhile, the Udupi Congress unit also staged a huge protest at Brahmavar, opposing the ED questioning of Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi.
MLA U T Khadar, addressing the protestors in Udupi said, “Sonia Gandhi had opportunities to become the prime minister, but she refused. The ED probe is being done for dirty politics. Rahul Gandhi faced 52 hours of investigation, but the PSI scandal got over in just two hours. What kind of an investigation is this? ED probe is just harassment. BJP is misusing its power. But the Gandhi family will win over all allegations. This is cowardice of the union government led by BJP. They are afraid of Gandhi family. That is why BJP is weakening them in various ways. This is a conspiracy of the BJP government.
Abhayachandra Jain said that, "Congress will not be afraid of any government. Congress has a history. It existed before Independence. No one can do anything. BJP came after freedom. BJP is trying to free India from Congress party. But it is impossible. Unless Congress exists, there is no government. BJP is suppressing the voices against the government. Through this way, they are making efforts to hide all allegations and their faults. I hope and wish, truth will win finally."
Vinay Kumar Sorake, former minister, said, "ED probe is just an effort to create trauma among Congress leaders but they are not daring enough to fight against us. Inflation is going high day by day. The government is not bothering about the upcoming economic crisis. The present government is making rich persons even richer, the poor will remain poor. As per a report, 95% of the poor are still suffering and 5% of rich people have grown even richer. They are trying to uproot the very base of democracy. They are misusing religion for the sake of election," he alleged.
Congress leaders MLAs U T Khader, former MLAs Abhayachandra Jain and Vinay Kumar Sorake, district Congress president Ashok Kumar Kodavoor, M A Gafoor, Sourabh Ballal, Ramesh Kanchan, block Congress president Udupi, Veronica Cornelio, Dinakar Herur, Bipin Chandra Pal, Prakhyath Shetty and others were present.
The Congress activists stopped the vehicles and lied on the national highway and blocked it for a while. The police later disbursed the crowd and facilitated the vehicle moment.