Leaders and workers of the Congress took out marches to protest the Enforcement Directorate’s action against party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, in Mangaluru and Udupi on Friday.
Congress workers attempted to take out the march to the Income Tax office at Attavara starting from Falnir Road. However, they were prevented midway by the police. When they attempted to hold a dharna at Attavara Katte, the police took over a hundred party workers to custody.
District Congress Committee president K. Harish Kumar, the former Minister B. Ramanath Rai, MLC Manjunatha Bhandary, former MLAs J.R. Lobo and Shakuntala Shetty, and others were preset.
In Udupi, Congress workers, who took out a march from Coin Circle in Manipal to the district office complex at Rajatadri, attempted to enter the complex. However, the police prevented them from doing so.
Speaking on the occasion, the former Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake said the BJP had been using the ED to target the Congress and its leaders ever since it came to power at the Centre. The present action was aimed at silencing the Congress during the upcoming Presidential elections. It was also to divert the attention of the masses after the BJP suffered severe humiliation over comments by its now-expelled leader Nupur Sharma, Mr. Sorake alleged.
Udupi district Congress president Ashok Kumar Kodavoor, the former Minister K. Abhayachandra Jain, and KPCC general secretary M.A. Gafoor were present.
