District Congress Protests against Arrest of DK Shivakumar by ED; Rai, Lobo, Ivan Arrested
Mangaluru: The District Congress staged a protest in front of the DC office against the arrest of former minister D K Shivakumar by the Enforcement Directorate and demanded his release immediately here on September 4.
Addressing the protesters former MLA Shakuntala Shetty said, “The BJP won the Lok Sabha elections with a majority. It is very sad to see our leader D K Shivakumar being arrested by the ED alleging that they got Rs 8 crore with him. But I would like to ask them, where were they when the BJP was buying the 17 rebel MLAs paying them in crores and why did they not arrest them? Why did the ED and IT not question them? Since D K Shivakumar did not bend to the BJP, they are now involved in acts of political vengeance. D K Shivakumar was not even allowed to celebrate the Ganesh Festival. We are not getting justice in our country, the BJP is doing vendetta politics by arresting Congress leaders which the Congress party strongly condemns. We all are with D K Shivakumar, we are sure that he will come out clean.”
Addressing the protesters J R Lobo said, “I would like to ask a question, why did the ED arrest DKS after questioning him continuously for 5 days? He has co-operated well with the ED officers but he was arrested with accusations of not co-operating with the officers. What will they do by arresting DKS? After the arrest DKS was taken for medial test and his sugar level was high but the ED did not allow him to take rest. Under the leadership of Modi and Shah, the BJP is trying to eliminate all other parties in the country. This is a murder of democracy and we the Congress party condemns the political vendetta by the BJP.”
Lobo further said, “BJP has no experience to run the government. The GDP at 5 percent, falls to a 6 year low. In Gujarat, the MLAs asked the help of DKS to safeguard them which led to his arrest. Earlier Former minister Chidambaram was arrested and now they have arrested D K Shivakumar. Tomorrow it will be our turn, so we have to fight against the vengeance politics by BJP. Do we need such a government that has taken the country 50 years back? We need 50 more years to recover the GDP”.
Former President of Mahila Congress Mamatha Gatti said, “D K Shivakumar was arrested by the ED in alleged money laundering case. Shivakumar’s mother Gauramma requested to send her son to celebrate Ganesh Festival but the ED did not allow him. The BJP claims that they respect women but they have shown how much respect they have towards women”.
Harish Kumar said, “D K Shivakumar brought the MLAs from Gujarat to safeguard them from BJP and the BJP is taking revenge of that. In 5 and half years we have seen how the BJP is ruling the country. During their rule, the economy has fallen. To hide their failures the BJP is arresting the Congress leaders. Recently the rebel MLAs were taken to Mumbai by special flight, from where did the money come? The BJP leaders purchased the rebel MLAs by paying them in crores why is the ED not investigating into it. BJP leaders Shobha Karandlaje, Sadanada Gowda who were earning Rs 3000, are the owners of Rs 3000 crores wealth. Let the ED investigate them. Amit Shah’s son invested Rs 50,000 and has become the owner of Rs 50,000 crore within a few years. Let the ED investigate the Gujarat solar scam, Rafale deal and other scams by the BJP.”
Former minister Ramanath Rai said, “We condemn the arrest of our leader D K Shivakumar by the ED. It is a politically motivated arrest. In the country, the BJP is targetting the Congress leaders and arresting them. Those who support the BJP are safe, those who do not support the BJP will be arrested. Recently an FIR was filed against a journalist for video recording children eating Chapati with salt in UP. BJP leaders are indulged in Scams but the ED is not investigating it. Only the Congress leaders have been targetted. The economy is in danger and the rupee is weaker against the Dollar. We should all be united to fight for justice by condemning the arrest of Shivakumar. We are with D K Shivakumar in his fight for justice. The ED did not even allow him to celebrate Ganesh Festival.”
The effigies of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah was taken in a procession and burnt in the middle of the road. Later all the protesters were arrested by the police.
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