The Congress MP said the government is "harassing" Mr Kharge and "wants to insult Dalit leaders".
After the Enforcement Directorate (ED) examined senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge in connection with a money laundering probe, the party's whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore on Monday accused the government of "harassing" the Dalit leader and said that he would not surrender like BSP supremo Mayawati did.
He said the government is "harassing" Kharge and "wants to insult Dalit leaders".
Mr Kharge is a fighter and "he won't surrender like Mayawati ji", Mr Tagore tweeted.
Addressing an event in Delhi last week, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed that the Congress had reached out to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, offering her the chief minister's post for contesting the Uttar Pradesh polls together, but she did not respond.
"...She gave a clear passage to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Why? (Because of) the CBI, the ED and Pegasus," Mr Gandhi had claimed.
The ED examined Mr Kharge on Monday in connection with its money laundering probe against the party-promoted Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which publishes the National Herald newspaper, officials said.
The 79-year-old Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha was summoned to appear before the federal agency with regard to the probe, following which he deposed before it.
His statement has been recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as the agency wants to understand some issues in the investigation, officials said.
Mr Kharge is stated to be an office-bearer of Young Indian and AJL and hence his questioning in the case was necessitated, officials said.
The ED has been probing AJL and the role of various Congress leaders under the anti-money laundering law since 2016 after taking cognisance of a CBI FIR.
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