Congress' Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accuses Centre of 'vendetta' amid multi-city protests

As the Congress party continues to stage protests over the questioning of Rahul Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accused the Central government of "vendetta and violent politics".

Addressing reporters after meeting Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla on Thursday, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, "We told the Speaker in detail, the manner in which we’ve been subjected to atrocities and violence. Speaker listened to us attentively. We spoke about Delhi Police officers who barged into the AICC office and attacked our MPs and workers in a pre-planned manner." Adding further, the Congress leader alleged that at the police station, the grand old party's MPs and workers were treated as if they were "terrorists". 

"Even at Police Stations, Delhi Police behaved with Congress MPs as if our MPs and workers are terrorists. Rahul Gandhi was called for three consecutive days for 10-12 hours long questioning. We don’t object to it. We just want to say that don’t use vendetta and violent politics,” Chowdhury told reporters.

It is pertinent to mention that Congress has filed a case against Delhi Police for allegedly entering AICC headquarters in the national capital and attacking party workers. 

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury seeks LS speaker's intervention

Chowdhury wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday, pleading with him to intervene in the Enforcement Directorate's hours-long questioning of Rahul Gandhi, alleging that the "inhuman treatment and humiliation has been meted out" to Rahul Gandhi by the agency.

In his letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the Congress leader spoke about the grilling of the Wayanad MP by the Central agency for three consecutive days, stating that Rahul Gandhi has been going "inexplicable tormentation" by ED.

"With heavy heart, I along with my colleagues have been expressing grievances to you that our esteemed colleague Shri Rahul Gandhi Ji, has been undergoing inexplicable tormentation for consecutive three days by Enforcement directorate of India in Delhi, he has been grilled on an average 10 to 11 hours per day on the pretext of examination on some wild allegations," a statement from Chowdhury's letter to Om Birla read.

The Congress leader further wrote that he and his party MPs regard Om Birla as their custodian and therefore seek his intervention in the matter. Referring to ED's probe, Chowdhury wrote, "This kind of inhuman treatment with a Member of Parliament smacks of heinous conspiracy to settle politics. We all regard you as our custodian and hence seek your intervention into the humiliation being meted out to Shri Rahul Gandhi."

It is pertinent to mention that the questioning of the senior Congress leaders and the Gandhis is a part of the ED's investigation to understand the shareholding pattern, financial transactions, and role of the promoters of Young Indian and AJL (Associated Journal Limited). The probe agency had registered a fresh case under the criminal provisions of the PMLA after a trial court took cognizance of an Income Tax Department probe against Young Indian Pvt Ltd on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.