AGARATALA: The TMC on Monday exhorted Congress members to refrain from holding protests over ED summonses to the grand old party's top leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in a case of financial impropriety as "law must take its own course".
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh pointed out that Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury, too, had taken a similar stance when the Mamata Banerjee-led party's MP, Abhishek Banerjee, was grilled by central agency officials as part of the probe into a coal pilferage case.
Tripura Congress president Birajit Sinha, however, lashed out at Ghosh, stating that the "TMC MP was an accused in multiple cases, unlike Gandhi, and the two issues cannot be compared".
Sinha did not mention the cases that he was referring to in his statement against Banerjee.
Talking to reporters, Ghosh said, "We have nothing to say on the Enforcement Directorate's summons to Rahul Gandhi. The Congress and the CPI(M) had welcomed CBI and ED questioning of Abhishek Banerjee."
"They had said that the law should take its own course. If that is Chowdhury's stand, he should ideally be accompanying Gandhi to the ED office."
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi faced ED officials during the day, while his mother and Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, sought time citing her ill health as reason.
Activists of the grand old party staged protests across the country on Monday claiming that central agencies were being "misused" to harass its leaders.
Maintaining that the Congress was working as the 'B team' of the BJP in West Bengal, Ghosh said one party should not be having two points of view on the same subject.
"When the TMC had raised its voice against the misuse of central agencies by the Centre, the leaders of the Congress and the CPI(M) seemed to be in no mood to listen. That's why the two parties have almost become non-existent in Bengal," he stated.
Ghosh promised that if the TMC gets the mandate of people in Tripura next year, all welfare schemes introduced in West Bengal will be extended to northeastern state.
Meanwhile, slamming Ghosh over his remarks, Sinha alleged, "The nation knows that didi (Mamata Banerjee) shook hands with (prime minister) Modiji under the table to save her nephew (Abhishek). Rahul Gandhi was summoned by the ED, despite not being involved in any corruption. The two cases are different."
Rahul Gandhi was on Monday questioned for over eight hours by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering probe linked to the National Herald newspaper, as the opposition party held protests across the country, accusing the Centre of targeting its leaders by misusing agencies.
Gandhi, who appeared before a central probe agency for the first time for questioning, was still in the ED office here till 9 pm, having arrived at 11.10 am, accompanied by a battery of leaders including sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and escorted by armed CRPF personnel, and leaving for an 80-minute break in the afternoon.
Hundreds of Congress workers in Delhi and state capitals took to the streets and several senior leaders, including Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Randeep Surjewala and K C Venugopal, were detained here amid a massive show of strength by the party which had called for the Satyagraha march against the ED summons.
The opposition party alleged that some of its leaders were manhandled by the police and lashed out at the government for "not allowing"' peaceful protests.
The BJP hit back at the Congress, accusing its leaders of putting pressure on the ED, supporting corruption and protecting the alleged assets worth Rs 2,000 crore of the Gandhi family.
Noting that nobody is above the law "not even Rahul Gandhi", BJP leader and Union Minister Smriti Irani claimed that never before such a blatant attempt was made by a political family to hold a probe agency to ransom to protect its "ill-gotten" assets.
Gandhi, 51, went from the party headquarters in Akbar Road to the ED office in central Delhi a few kilometres away in a convoy of seven cars around 11.10 am after walking for some distance with his supporters.
After about two-and-a-half hours, he left the ED office for a lunch break and returned at 3.30 pm.
The former Congress president, a Z+ category protectee of the CRPF after the Union government withdrew the Gandhi family's SPG cover in 2019, is expected to write down his statement, official sources said.
Prohibitory orders were imposed in parts of central Delhi that were heavily barricaded.
The ED is recording the statement of the Lok Sabha member from Wayanad in Kerala under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The probe is related to alleged financial irregularities in the party-promoted Young Indian that owns the National Herald newspaper, published by the Associated Journals Limited (AJL).
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are among the promoters and shareholders of Young Indian.
Rahul Gandhi is expected to be grilled about the incorporation of the Young Indian company, the operations of the National Herald and the fund transfer within the news media establishment.
"We are not scared. The Modi government should be ashamed that they have turned central Delhi into a fortress just because our leader is going to the ED with his supporters," Indian Youth Congress President Srinivas BV told PTI near the ED office just before he was detained by the police.
Tempers rose as the day progressed with scenes of slogan shouting, Congress workers jumping barricades and resisting attempts by police to detain them.
Slogans such as "down down BJP", and "we want justice" rang out in cities such as Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Guwahati, Jammu, Dehradun and Jaipur.
The party claimed it was starting Mahatma Gandhi's 'Satyagraha', peaceful resistance, again with the march against the Modi government and vowed not to bow down.
A host of Congress leaders spoke out on the alleged harassment.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Gehlot alleged that the government was misusing central probe agencies and this was nothing but "political vendetta".
Asked whether the Congress would stage a similar show of strength on June 23 when Sonia Gandhi has been asked to appear before ED, Gehlot said, "The Congress is competent to deal with the situation".
"This is a fight for democracy. The government is trying to muzzle the voices of opposition leaders," added former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat.
"Now, a satyagraha will take place at every corner, he added. Surjewala said Congress leaders had done nothing wrong and alleged that "Godse's descendants fear from the truth and they will not be able to suppress the truth".
Ahead of Rahul Gandhi's appearance before the ED, brother-in-law Robert Vadra came out in his support and expressed confidence that he would be exonerated from all "baseless accusations".
"I believe the truth will prevail and this harassment of the prevailing dispensation will not have the effect they desire," he added.
The Congress party said in a press conference in the morning that all fund movements in this case were legitimate.
In April, the agency questioned senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Pawan Bansal as part of the investigation.
The questioning of the senior Congress leaders and the Gandhis is part of the investigation to understand the shareholding pattern, financial transactions and role of the promoters of Young Indian and AJL, officials had said.
The ED recently registered a fresh case under the criminal provisions of the PMLA after a trial court here took cognisance of an Income Tax Department probe against Young Indian Pvt Ltd on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.
Swamy had accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds with Young Indian Pvt Ltd paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that Associate Journals Ltd owed to the Congress.
The Delhi High Court in February last year issued a notice to the Gandhis for their response to Swamy's plea seeking to lead evidence in the matter before the trial court.
The Gandhis had secured separate bails from the court in 2015 after they furnished personal bonds of Rs 50,000 and one surety.
They, however, contended in the Delhi High Court that the plea by Swamy was "misconceived and premature".
The other accused in the case filed by Swamy are close Gandhi aides Suman Dubey and technocrat Sam Pitroda.