New Delhi: 

Miffed over the Enforcement Directorate (ED) allegedly targeting the Gandhi family, the Congress will launch nationwide protests against the ‘political conspiracy’ of the Central government from April 25.

The Congress leaders believe the recent targeting of the party through attaching of the properties owned by AJL the company that publishes the National Herald newspaper and the ED chargesheet naming Sonia and Rahul in the case, were done in response to the AICC session in Ahmedabad on April 8 and 9, which slammed the Centre over policy failure on many counts and Rahul’s special focus on the 2027 assembly elections in Gujarat, the home state of PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

When the ED chargesheet came, the Congress protested the issue across the country on April 16, but the decision to launch a month-long nationwide agitation was taken when party chief Mallikarjun Kharge reviewed the strategy with the senior leaders on April 19. The party managers decided to combine the issues flagged in the Ahmedabad resolution along with protests against the ED to make the political response wholesome.

“This is not a legal issue. The charges won’t stand legal scrutiny as no money exchange took place in the matter. This is a political conspiracy against the Congress and its leadership and is aimed at destabilising them. This happened every time we took an aggressive stand against the central government or the saffron party.

The attachment of AJL properties and the ED charge sheet are linked to the Congress taking an aggressive stand against the Centre at the Ahmedabad session. Rahul Gandhi has been vocal about his Gujarat plans. The saffron party is worried over all this,” AICC in charge of Jharkhand, K Raju told ETV Bharat.

“The legal team will take care of the court issues, but a political response was needed. Earlier, they also questioned the Gandhis in the case for long hours just to harass them.

They also took away Rahul Gandhi’s Lok Sabha membership after framing him in a false case and even took away his official residence. But all that did not deter him from speaking the truth,” he said.

“From April 25 to 30, ‘Save Constitution’ rallies will be held in every state. From May 3 to 10, similar rallies would be held in each district.

From May 11 to 17, similar rallies would be held in each assembly segment. From May 20 to 30, all the Congress workers will go door to door to explain the issues flagged in the Ahmedabad resolution, which focused on social and economic justice for the people. 

The misuse of the central agencies, particularly the targeting of the party and its leadership by the ED in the National Herald case, would also be flagged simultaneously. All the senior leaders will join the protests,” AICC in charge of Uttar Pradesh, Avinash Pande told ETV Bharat.

According to party insiders, the chargesheet in the National Herald case has been filed and the court will now take a call on its veracity on April 25, depending on which the trial would start.

This means the party and the Gandhis have to prepare for a legal battle ahead, although the party’s lawyers will argue against the case on that date. Before that date, the party will hold press conferences in all major cities across the country from April 21 to 24 to build public opinion against the alleged targeting of the Gandhis.

The date is important as the court will take note of the ED chargesheet, which names former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in the alleged National Herald money laundering case that has been ongoing for years.

The Congress claims the charges are bogus and that the Centre is repeating them only to malign the Gandhi family and the grand old party and deflect public attention from its failures related to handling the economy and providing social justice.

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