Congress leaders met President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday to raise mistreatment of parliamentarians by police while protesting against party leader Rahul Gandhi's questioning by the Enforcement Directorate.
They also spoke to the President about the Centre's newly unveiled Agnipath scheme for short-term recruitment into the defence forces that have sparked massive protests in several parts of the country.
Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge said they informed the President that the Agnipath scheme was neither discussed with any committee nor was presented in Parliament. “We said that this is a violation of our democratic rights. President has been asked to take this into consideration,” he added.
Senior leader P Chidambaram said a second memorandum submitted to Kovind was about the police atrocities on Congress leaders. “We have asked the President to cause an enquiry into this and send the matter to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee,” Chidambaram was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
“We will present our case and let the Delhi Police and the MHA present their case. Let the committee decide whether there has been a breach or not. The President has assured us that he will look into it and take it up with the government,” Chidambaram added.
{{/usCountry}}“We will present our case and let the Delhi Police and the MHA present their case. Let the committee decide whether there has been a breach or not. The President has assured us that he will look into it and take it up with the government,” Chidambaram added.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier in the day, Congress functionaries, who staged a ‘Satyagrah’ at the Jantar Mantar in the national capital over the two issues, were seen marching towards Rashtrapati Bhawan from Vijay Chowk.
Several top leaders, including Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel and MPs Jairam Ramesh, Adhir Ranjan Chouwdhury and KC Venugopal, were seen taking part in the march
The leaders along with party MPs earlier took out a solidarity march from Parliament House to Vijay chowk, where they were stopped by the Delhi Police.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi's questioning in the National Herald money laundering case is underway at the ED headquarters in Delhi for the fourth day. he was interrogated by ED officers for three straight days last week, after which he sought a break citing his mother Sonia Gandhi's hospitalisation.