Maha Cong leaders including ministers detained during protest against ED action

Congress leaders including senior ministers of the Maharashtra government were detained by police on Thursday as they protested at Raj Bhavan here against the Enforcement Directorates questioning of Rahul Gandhi.

Congress leaders including senior ministers of the Maharashtra government were detained by police on Thursday as they protested at Raj Bhavan here against the Enforcement Directorate's questioning of Rahul Gandhi. Police took action as Congress leaders tried to remove barricades placed outside the Raj Bhavan gate during their protest march.

State Congress president Nana Patole, PWD minister Ashok Chavan, revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat, school education minister Varsha Gaikwad, medical education minister Amit Deshmukh and textile minister Aslam Shaikh were among those detained, police officials said.

They will be taken to the nearby police station and released, said an official.

Earlier, speaking to reporters, Patole said the party was protesting against the ''dictatorial attitude of the Narendra Modi government'', and attempts to ''supress the opposition's voice'' will not succeed. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi appeared before the ED in Delhi on Wednesday for the third consecutive day of questioning in the National Herald money laundering case, with the agency seeking answers about his ''personal role'' in taking decisions with regard to the media organization and its owner Young Indian.

Congress has claimed that there was no FIR or `scheduled offense' on the basis of which a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was filed by the ED and Rahul Gandhi and his mother, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, were summoned.