Youth Congress activists gherao ED office

Bhubaneswar: State Youth Congress activists Saturday staged a protest and attempted to gherao the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office at Nayapalli here over the chargesheet filed against party senior leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in connection with the National Herald case.

The protest was led by state Youth Congress president Ranjit Kumar Patra and senior Congress leader and Jeypore MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati.

Holding placards and banners, the Youth Congress activists raised slogans against the Union government. The youth activists marched to the ED office by breaking through the police barricades in front of the Central agency premises.

They were, however, stopped from entering the ED office by the police. They then staged a sit-in demonstration in front of the ED office. Speaking to reporters, Patra said, “The ED has turned into a puppet in the hands of the BJP.

The Modi government is using the agency as a political weapon to quell Opposition leaders who have been vocal both inside and outside Parliament on issues such as corruption, price hike, crimes against women, farmer distress, unemployment, and deteriorating law and order.”

He said that the chargesheet filed by the ED against party leader Rahul Gandhi, former party president Sonia Gandhi, and others was politically motivated and reflected vendetta. ”The National Herald and Young India cases are part of a larger conspiracy by the BJP to tarnish the reputation of Rahul Gandhi,” he asserted.

PTI

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