Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi’s Monday Questioning by ED Deferred to Tuesday

This comes after the ED issued a fresh summons to Gandhi in the National Herald case.

Sonia Gandhi.

(Photo: PTI)

The Enforcement Directorate issued a fresh summons to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, asking her to come for questioning on Tuesday, 26 July, instead of Monday as was earlier scheduled, in the National Herald case.

Gandhi had been questioned by the ED in the case on 21 July for two hours amid protests by Congress workers. Her children, party leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, had also accompanied her to the office of the central agency.

A large number of Congress leaders like Shashi Tharoor, Ashok Gehlot, P Chidambaram, Ajay Maken, and Sachin Pilot had been detained amid protests against the ED's actions.

'Vendetta Politics Has Reached a New Low': Kapil Sibal

The party's protests also spilled over on Friday in several parts of the country. Congress workers staged demonstrations in front of the ED office in Madhya Pradesh's Indore on Friday against the ED's questioning of Gandhi.

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal, who left the Congress in May, also slammed the ED's actions, saying that "vendetta politics" had reached a new low. Sibal also said that the central investigating agencies had become "long arms" of the government to "harass and tarnish" the reputation of leaders, news agency PTI reported.

There was also a show of strength by the Opposition ahead of Gandhi's questioning by the ED. In a joint statement, Opposition parties had said, "The Modi government has unleashed a relentless campaign of vendetta against its political opponents and critics through the mischievous misuse investigative agencies."

"Prominent leaders of a number of political parties have been deliberately targeted and subjected to harassment in an unprecedented manner," said the statement signed by leaders of the Congress, the Shiv Sena, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), among others.

(With inputs from PTI.)