The Congress hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government over DK Shivakumar's arrest on Tuesday, alleging that punitive actions in a "revengeful manner" were being taken against its leaders to divert people's attention from the "economic emergency" prevailing in the country.
Terming the action as "political vendetta", the party said it will fight against the arrest of Shivakumar, a prominent Karnataka Congress leader, legally as well as "in the people's court".
Immediately after his arrest, a tweet from Shivakumar's Twitter handle said:
I appeal to my party cadre, supporters and well-wishers to not be disheartened as I have done nothing illegal.
September 3, 2019
I have full faith in God & in our country's Judiciary and am very confident that I will emerge victorious both legally and politically against this vendetta politics.Shivakumar was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money-laundering case on Tuesday.
The sitting MLA from Kanakapura and a former cabinet minister, Shivakumar appeared before the agency for the fourth time for questioning on Tuesday. He was placed under arrest under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, officials said.
Reacting to the development, Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told reporters, "India's economy is in doldrums. Rupee has become the worst performing currency. Every sector is in complete shambles, be it textiles, automobiles, steel, refinery, coal or in all other drivers of growth.”
"The GDP growth rate is now below five percent. Actually, it is about three percent. There is an economic emergency prevailing in the country. To put a lid over all this and to draw the attention of the country away from their own misdeeds, the BJP government is taking false actions against Congress leaders."
The "illegal" arrest of Shivakumar was one such instance, he said. "Shivakumar is innocent, there is not an iota of evidence against him and it is only to draw the attention away from the complete economic mismanagement and anarchy that such punitive actions are being taken against Congress leaders in a revengeful manner," Surjewala added.
The opposition party would fight against Shivakumar's arrest legally as also in the people's court, he said.
GDP falls to 5%
September 3, 2019
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Arrest Chidambaram!
Sensex & ₹ Crash
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Arrest D.K.Shivakumar
English rulers- Divide and rule!
BJP's Mantra - Mislead and Misrule!Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal described Shivakumar's arrest as a "clear case of political vendetta".
The BJP government is desperately trying to hide its outright failure in checking the economic slow down and financial crisis with shameless harassment of political opponents. (3/3)
September 3, 2019ED & CBI has turned to be the puppet agents of the BJP Government at the Centre. A wrong trend has been set by the BJP Government to harrass and hunt down the political opponents with fabricated allegations. I strongly condemn this politics of vengeance. (2/3)
September 3, 2019Former Karnataka chief minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy also voiced support for Shivakumar, saying after days of interrogation, without even allowing a day's break for festivals, the ED cited non-cooperation to arrest the Congress leader.
"The ruling government is using investigating agencies to oppress those opposition leaders, who they think are a threat to their interests," he said.
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