Sonia's ED questioning: Oppn accuses Modi govt of 'unleashing relentless' campaign through 'mischievous misuse' of probe agencies

Several non-Congress Opposition leaders expressed support for Gandhi and slammed the Centre for targeting political opponents.I strongly condemn the attitude of ED to humiliate political leaders.

As many as 13 opposition parties on Thursday accused the Modi government of unleashing a relentless campaign against its political opponents through ''mischievous misuse'' of probe agencies.

Ahead of Sonia Gandhi's questioning by the ED in the National Herald money laundering case, leaders of 13 political parties met at Parliament House and condemned the action.

''The Modi 'sarkar' has unleashed a relentless campaign of vendetta against its political opponents and critics through the mischievous misuse of investigative agencies. Prominent leaders of several political parties have been deliberately targeted and subjected to harassment in an unprecedented manner,'' the leaders charged in a joint statement.

''We condemn this and resolve to continue and intensify our collective fight against the anti-people, anti-farmer, anti-Constitution policies of the Modi 'sarkar' that is destroying the social fabric of our society,'' they also said in the statement.

Leaders of the Congress, DMK, CPI-M, CPI, IUML, NC, TRS, MDMK, NCP, VCK, Shiv Sena, RJD and RSP were present at the meeting. Several non-Congress Opposition leaders expressed support for Gandhi and slammed the Centre for targeting political opponents.

''I strongly condemn the attitude of ED to humiliate political leaders. The officers of ED should have gone to her residence even if they had questions to ask of Sonia Gandhi,'' Opposition's presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha said on Twitter.

''For those who are ignorant, let me state that in the infamous Hawala case of 1995 the CBI had gone to the houses of those named in their FIR to ask questions,'' he said in another tweet.

Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted, ''yet again the Extended Department (ED) of BJP is insulating the party from people’s anger towards price rise, joblessness and inflation.'' ''By repeatedly calling opposition leaders with zero evidence against them is deliberate political vendetta carried out on behalf of the BJP,'' she said.