Referring to the continuous and repeated interrogation of Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, party’s national leaders Rahul Gandhi and M. Mallikarjun Kharge by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the National Herald case, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Vice-president Sharan Prakash Patil said that the BJP-led government at the Centre was murdering the democracy by capturing constitutional bodies and misusing them to suppress the Opposition.
“The very act of bringing the National Herald case under the er Prevention of Money Laundering Act is ill-intentioned. The National Herald was a newspaper started by Jawaharlal Nehru and other freedom fighters and it played a crucial role in the freedom movement. When the paper of historical significance was facing serious financial problems, the Congress established an entity with a non-profit motive and bought the paper to save and preserve it. The Election Commission was notified about the development. The transaction was transparent and legal. When there were no signs of money laundering, bringing the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is wrong in the first place. But, the BJP government did it with the intention of harassing and threatening Congress leaders. It is an attack not just on the Congress but also on democracy,” Mr. Patil said at a press conference that he addressed along with All India Congress Committee secretary and Kalyana Karnataka in charge Sridhar Babu, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee Working president Eshwar Khandre and spokesperson Priyank Kharge at local party office in Kalaburagi on Saturday.
When M. Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, was in the House, Mr. Patil said, the ED sleuths took him and interrogated him for eight hours just to ensure that the Congress leader would not be in Upper House to raise inconvenient questions to the BJP.
“The government has imposed GST even on milk and curd. The prices of all essential commodities are skyrocketing. Rising prices are pushing the poor and middle-class population out of the frying pan to the fire. On the other hand, the BJP government is writing off corporate loans and offering tax concessions to big corporate companies. Those who question the government’s pro-corporate and anti-people approach are being threatened and suppressed through Central investigation agencies. Mr. Kharge’s interrogation by the ED was to ensure that the Congress leader would not be present in the Rajya Sabha to raise these issues concerning the common people. But the Congress is not afraid of such threats,” Mr. Patil said.
