Gujarat Cong stages protest against ED summons to Rahul Gandhi; 70 held in bid to march towards agency's Ahmedabad office

Gujarat Congress leaders and workers staged a protest in Ahmedabad on Monday against the questioning of senior party leader Rahul Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate but the police foiled their plan to march towards the office of the anti-money laundering agency by detaining at least 70 members.

Gujarat Congress leaders and workers staged a protest in Ahmedabad on Monday against the questioning of senior party leader Rahul Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate but the police foiled their plan to march towards the office of the anti-money laundering agency by detaining at least 70 members. The detainees include Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor, his predecessor Amit Chavda, MLAs, and the party workers, including women, of different wings of Congress when they tried to march towards the ED office located near the GMDC ground, police said. Congress leaders and workers had gathered in a hall at the GMDC ground and as television channels flashed the news of Rahul Gandhi reaching the ED office in Delhi, they came out of the hall and tried to march outside the ground towards the ED office.

However, police personnel prevented Congress members from leaving the GMDC ground, following which some protesters resorted to a sit-in protest and shouted slogans against the BJP government.

MLA Virji Thummar fainted during the protest.

''The Congress party had organised a protest at the GMDC hall. They tried to march toward the ED office by trying to take out a rally, but they were detained before they could leave the ground. The (protest) programme ended peacefully,'' said Vastrapur police station inspector Sandeep Khambhala.

The detainees were taken to the police headquarters and released later, he said.

''There is an attempt to create fear among the people by misusing the ED and the CBI, but Congress workers stand fearlessly. This is a fight against the BJP government and Narendra Modi's machinery,'' said party MLA Anant Patel. The Congress has claimed that the ED's summons to the party president Sonia Gandhi and senior leader Rahul Gandhi was issued out of ''political vendetta'' for fearlessly questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Rahul Gandhi was questioned by the ED in a money laundering probe linked to the National Herald newspaper after the MP reached the agency's headquarters in New Delhi accompanied by a battery of party leaders and supporters.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)