Congress stage protest outside ED office in Raipur amid raids
The protest led by senior MLA Dhanendra Sahu, former Rajya Sabha MP Chhaya Verma and president of Raipur district unit of Congress (urban) Girish Dubey and Congress leader Pankaj Sharma, reached in front of the ED’s office building in Pachpedi Naka area and staged a sit-in protest
Following Monday’s raid by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on premises linked to some Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh, thousands of party leaders and workers staged a massive protest in front of the ED office in Raipur on Tuesday.
The Congress accused the raids were conducted with the aim to harass Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh on the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Also Read: ED raids Chhattisgarh Congress leaders, party targets Centre
The protest led by senior MLA Dhanendra Sahu, former Rajya Sabha MP Chhaya Verma and president of Raipur district unit of Congress (urban) Girish Dubey and Congress leader Pankaj Sharma, reached in front of the ED’s office building in Pachpedi Naka area and staged a sit-in protest.
They raised slogans against the BJP-led central government and the probe agency and accused the government of misusing central agencies against political opponents.
Police personnel deployed outside the office entered into a minor scuffle with the protestors when the latter tried to charge towards ED’s office.
Hitting out at the BJP, Chhaya Verma said that the BJP is scared of Congress and therefore it has resorted to such tactics of misusing central agencies.
“We (Congress) will not be afraid of such things. We will fight against it and will emerge stronger,” she added.
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, who was also in Raipur on Tuesday, alleged that these raids are nothing but political vendetta.
“It is clearly a political vendetta. It was expected. We were expecting (raids) as the Congress’ plenary session is going to be held and there is election we are not scared of anything,” said Venugopal.
Also Read: Chhattisgarh coal scam: ‘BJP frustrated… third-rate politics’, Cong on ED raids
Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Monday hit out at ED raids saying ‘our spirits cannot be broken by stopping our comrades’.
The ED on Monday raided premises linked to at least eight ruling Congress leaders and office bearers in the state in a money laundering case linked to the alleged illegal levies on coal.
On Monday, the ED raided locations related to MLA Devendra Yadav in Bhilai (Durg district), Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee treasurer Ramgopal Agrawal, chairman of Chhattisgarh State Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board Sushil Sunny Agrawal party’s state spokesperson RP Singh in Raipur, Chairman Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation Girish Devangan MLA Bilaigarh Chandradev Prasad Rai and Congress leader Vinod Tiwari.
The action comes ahead of the Congress’ three-day plenary session to be held in Raipur from February 24.