'Opposition parties shouldn't field candidates where Congress in direct contest with BJP': Nirupam
SHIMLA: The opposition parties should not field their candidates in seats where the Congress is in a direct contest with the BJP to avoid splitting of votes, said Sanjay Nirupam the spokesperson of the grand old party on Sunday.
He said in the last Maharashtra Assembly election, the Congress had not put up its candidates in those seats where the NCP was in a position to win against the BJP.
Addressing a press conference over Enforcement Directorate (ED) notices to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in a money laundering case, Nirupam accused the Narendra Modi government of "misusing" CBI, ED and other central agencies to harass its political opponents.
With Rahul Gandhi set to appear before the ED on June 13 in connection with the case pertaining to the National Herald-Associated Journals Ltd deal, the Congress has decided that all its top leaders and MPs would take out a protest march to the ED headquarters in Delhi and stage a "satyagraha".
Congress leaders in states will also take out marches to the agency offices in their respective states and will stage "satyagraha" on Monday.
Nirupam stressed putting up a one-on-one fight against the BJP.
The AAP, Trinamool Congress and other opposition parties should not field their candidates in any of the upcoming elections, including Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat due later this year, where the Congress is in direct contest with BJP, he said.
Training his guns at the BJP government at the Centre, the Congress spokesperson termed the ED notices to Sonia Gandhi and Rahu Gandhi the Modi dispensation's "conspiracy" and an attempt to divert people's attention from real issues such as unemployment and price rise Nirupam said of the 11,000 cases investigated by the ED courts convicted only seven which indicates that a majority of the probe agency's cases are "baseless".
A majority of these 11,000 cases have been investigated by ED in the last eight years of Narendra Modi's rule, he added.
Nirupam said Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had been issued notices when the Congress was finalising its plan to hold a nationwide protest against unemployment, price rise and other "anti-people" policies of the Modi government.
As part of its nationwide protest against the ED notices, the Himachal Pradesh unit of the Congress will hold a demonstration outside the ED office at Chhota Shimla on Monday at 11 am.