More than 100 Congress functionaries, led by former Puducherry Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, courted arrest on Tuesday while staging a protest against the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate to party president Sonia Gandhi in the National Herald case.
Mr. Narayanasamy and PCC president A.V. Subramanian, along with party cadre, began a silent protest near the Rajiv Gandhi Statue around 11 a.m. The initial plan of the PCC was to stage the demonstration for as long as Ms. Gandhi was interrogated at the ED office in New Delhi.
But as the news of the detention of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi by the Delhi police reached the agitation venue, the protestors started raising slogans against the Centre and courted arrest.
PCC senior vice-president and AICC co-ordinator P.K. Devadoss, former Ministers M. Kandasamy and M.O.H.F Shahjahan, legislator M. Vaithianathan and former Government Whip R.K.R. Anantharaman were among those detained.
Meanwhile, the All India Congress Committee constituted a 16-member Political Affairs Committee and a three-member Disciplinary Action Committee (DAC) in the Union Territory. The PAC includes Mr. Subramanian, Mr. Narayanasamy, Member of Parliament V. Vaithilingam, Mr. Vaithianathan, Mr. Devadoss, legislator Ramesh Parambath and former Ministers Kandasamy, Shahjahan and R. Kamalakannan.
The DAC would be headed by former Minister V. Pethaperumal.
