Following the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) decision to temporarily seal Young India’s office located inside Congress-owned National Herald’s building (Herald House) in Delhi, the Congress Party has called a meeting of all its members from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha at the Congress Parliamentary Party office to decide the next course of action.
Earlier, it was reported that the National Herald building was sealed, but later the reports came out that only the office of Young India was sealed, not the entire building. The action by the central investigation agency has been taken as a part of an ongoing money laundering investigation. Reports suggest that Congress MPs might give adjournment motion notice in the Parliament over ED’s action against Young India.
Furthermore, additional police personnel were also deployed outside the Congress headquarters at 24 Akbar Road, the resident of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the residence of interim party President Sonia Gandhi at 10 Janpath. The arrangement was made following inputs received from Special Branch that protesters might gather in large numbers at the three locations after ED’s decision to seal Young India’s office.
ED alleges Congress did not cooperate in the raid
As per reports, ED officials said they sealed the office as there was no one present when they reached to raid Young India’s office. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge had visited the building when ED officials were there, but he allegedly refused to cooperate and left the building. ED has sealed the office temporarily and summoned Kharge to be present for the raid.
An ED official told Aaj Tak, “Principal Officer Kharge came but left the building without participating in the raid. We have summoned him for the raid. Once our search is over in the presence of an authorized person, we will remove the seal.”
On the other hand, Kharge and Congress party denied the allegations levelled by the investigation agency. In a statement, Kharge said neither ED sought permission to search the premises nor did he stop them from doing any search.
Congress denied permission to protest on August 5
Congress has connected the presence of an additional Police force outside the AICC office to the protests they had planned for August 5. During a press conference, Congress leader Ajay Maken informed that the Delhi Police had denied permission for the protests planned for Friday. He said a letter from the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) office was sent to Congress denying permission for the protests the party had planned against price rise and unemployment.
In the statement during the press conference, Maken said, “Today we received a letter from DCP that we can`t protest on August 5 & AICC was turned into a Police cantonment. The government may suppress us as much as they want, but we`ll protest against inflation, unemployment, GST on edible items & go ahead with our schedule even if jailed.”
During the nationwide protests on August 5, Congress MPs were supposed to hold ‘Chalo Rashtrapati Bhavan’ from Parliament. On the other hand, CWC members and senior Congress leaders were scheduled to participate in ‘PM House Gherao’.
