National Herald case: Congress calls meeting of general secretaries, in-charges to plan protests

New Delhi: The Congress has called a meeting of all its general secretaries, in-charges and heads of frontal organisations on Saturday to decide the way forward for staging protests against the alleged targeting of party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case.

According to a circular issued by Congress general secretary organisation K C Venugopal, the meeting will be held at 4 pm at the Indira Gandhi Bhawan here.

The meeting, presided over by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, will deliberate on chalking out its plan for protests and demonstrations against the government over the alleged targeting of the party’s top leadership, sources said.

The Congress on Wednesday held protests outside Enforcement Directorate offices across the country over the agency’s chargesheet against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

It alleged that the action against its leaders showed panic and moral bankruptcy of the “despotic” government, which wanted to divert attention from public issues and economic crisis.

The Enforcement Directorate had filed a chargesheet against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others before a special court here in the National Herald case, accusing them of laundering Rs 988 crore. The prosecution complaint filed on April 9 under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) named Sonia Gandhi, a former Congress president, as the accused no 1, and her son and MP Rahul Gandhi, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, as the accused no 2.

Congress workers on Wednesday staged a protest outside the All India Congress Committee’s office at 24, Akbar Road, condemning the BJP-led Central government after the ED’s chargesheet.