Rahul Gandhi has been summoned for questioning again on Wednesday
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel told NDTV today that the Congress protests will continue as long as senior leader Rahul Gandhi is being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate. The protests, which are continuing across the country, might even be escalated, he added.
Asked whether he thought there was a possibility that Rahul Gandhi might be arrested by the agency, he responded in the negative. "They can arrest him even without a case. I don't think he will be arrested, because they have no evidence against him. They are just trying to sully his reputation," he told NDTV in an exclusive interview.
"It is to harass Rahul Gandhi and badmouth the Congress they have adopted this strategy," said Mr Baghel, who was once of the party's senior leaders to join the protests in Delhi.
Rahul Gandhi was questioned for another 10 hours on a second day after yesterday's 10-hour questioning session. The questions are in connection with an alleged money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper.
The Congress has called it "vendetta politics" and accused the BJP-led central government of misusing the investigative agencies.
"You have seen Rahul Gandhi constantly criticising the central government. The centre does not have answers to his questions. So in this situation, they are using the ED (Enforcement Directorate) to control him. I want to say through your channel - neither the Congress is going to supressed, nor will Rahul Gandhi bend," Mr Baghel said.
About the Delhi Police crackdown on the protest, Mr Baghel said leaders were manhandled even today.
"A woman parliamentarian was dragged across the ground. A senior leader was manhandled," he said.
Yesterday, several senior leaders of the party were seen being manhandled by the police.
Senior leader P Chidambaram said he sustained a fractured rib. Another leader, Pramod Tiwari, was thrown on the road and suffered a head injury. KC Venugopal was seen physically lifted by the police and hauled towards a waiting bus.
About his experience today, Mr Baghel said, "I was going to the Badarpur police station to meet Adhir Ranjan Choudhary and Mr Venugopal. They are being kept under detention there. I was stopped in front of the Apollo hospital".
The police, he said, could not show him any order for detention for about an hour. Citing the huge traffic jam it caused, he said it was "unfortunate that the police was contributing to the situation. We finally turned back as it was causing great inconvenience to the patients".