Cong protest in Parliament in support of Sonia Gandhi, Pralhad Joshi says party thinks they are above law

Amid sloganeering by some Opposition leaders in the Parliament ahead of Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi's appearance before Enforcement Directorate (ED), Union minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday in Lok Sabha slammed the protesters and said that Congress thinks they are above the law.

"Everybody is equal before the law or not? Is the Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) a superhuman being? They (Congress) think they are above the law...," Joshi in Lok Sabha.

However, the Lower House adjourned was adjourned till 11:30 am amid sloganeering by Opposition MPs.

Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 12 noon following sloganeering by some Opposition members minutes after the House proceedings began for the day.

Meanwhile, Congress MPs also held protests in Parliament against the Central government over the questioning of party president Sonia Gandhi by ED in the National Herald case.

The Congress MPs marched from Gate No 2 to Gandhi Statue.

The protest was organised soon after the Upper House was adjourned till 12 amid Opposition ruckus.

Congress MP and Whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore on Thursday gave an adjournment motion notice to discuss the misuse of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Tagore sought that the House should advise ED to abandon the behaviour of calling the public representatives of the opposition party, especially targeting the opposition leaders and to direct the ED to investigate old scams of the BJP Government.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh gives zero-hour notice over "misuse of central investigation agencies by the ruling government".

Additionally, in a joint statement Opposition parties criticized the Central government for unleashing a "relentless vendetta against political opponents" through misuse of investigative agencies by targeting prominent leaders of various parties.

"The Modi Sarkar has unleashed a relentless campaign of vendetta against its political opponents and critics through the mischievous misuse of investigative agencies. Prominent leaders of a number of political parties have been deliberately targeted and subjected to harassment in an unprecedented manner," the statement reads.

"We condemn this and resolve to continue and intensify our collective fight against the anti-people, anti-farmer, anti-Constitution policies of the Modi Sarkar that is destroying the social fabric of our society," it added.

The statement was released after the meeting of floor leaders of all Opposition parties in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha met at the office of Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge in Parliament.

Apart from the Congress, Opposition party's leaders of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Shiv Sena and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) were present in the meeting.

(ANI)

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