Mumbai,  Taking umbrage at the Centre's "dictatorship" and the Bharatiya Janata Party's attempts to implicate Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul in false cases, the Maharashtra Congress will hold protests outside Enforcement Directorate (ED) offices in Mumbai and Nagpur on Monday.

State party President Nana Patole said that the BJP government at the Centre is acting out of political vendetta against the Congress President Sonia Gandhi and MP Rahul Gandhi as part of its conspiracy to "silence the Opposition parties" by misusing central probe agencies.

"In tune with the Centre's ploy, the ED has issued notices to Soniaji and Rahulji to trap them in a fake case. The BJP is working in violation of the democratic principles and the Constitution. The Centre has turned agencies like ED, CBI, IT, NCB into its puppets and are deploying them to crush the Opposition parties' voice," he said.

As part of the BJP's designs, opposition parties or their senior leaders across the country in non-BJP ruled states are being systematically targeted, raided and action is being taken against them, the Congress chief alleged.

"The Congress has been consistently raising its voice against these oppressive, tyrannical and arbitrary tactics of BJP... Last year, we took to the streets to oppose the three black agriculture laws, inflation, unemployment and other burning issues," Patole said.

Continuing in the same vein, the Congress will organise demonstrations outside the ED offices in Mumbai and Nagpur on June 13 (Monday) with the presence of all senior leaders and its ministers in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

The protesters would include Congress Legislative Party Leader and Minister Balasaheb Thorat, other ministers Ashok Chavan, Amit Deshmukh, K.C. Padvi, Dr. Nitin Raut, Vijay Wadettiwar, Yashomati Thakur, Sunil Kedar, Aslam Shaikh, Satej Patil, and Dr. Vishwajeet Kadam.

Also joining will be Mumbai Congress President Bhai Jagtap, State Working Presidents Naseem Khan, Basavaraj Patil, Shivajirao Moghe, Chandrakant Handore, MLAs Praniti Shinde, Suresh Dhanorkar, Kunal Patil, MPs Rajnitai Patil and Kumar Ketkar, Atul Londhe, Sachin Sawant, and leaders of various wings, among others.
 

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