Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Gidugu Rudra Raju on Wednesday alleged that the BJP government at the Centre had unleashed a politics of vendetta against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who was troubling the ruling party by questioning its failures on all counts.
The APCC president was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a ‘Mouna Satyagraha’ (silent protest) staged by the party at Dharna Chowk. “It is unfortunate that the BJP is resorting to misuse of power and has reduced Central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate to pawns in its hands,” Mr. Rudra Raju alleged, adding that if the the need arose, every Congress leader and cadre was ready to lay down his/her life for Rahul Gandhi.
The State Congress chief said Rahul Gandhi was “being targeted for a statement he made in 2019. Awarding two years of imprisonment in such a case was unheard of in the 165-year-old history of the Indian Penal Code. He said the BJP’s “autocratic rule” was a threat to the unity and sovereignty of the country.
The party leaders registered their protest by sitting silently with a black ribbon covering their mouth to symbolically convey that freedom of speech was in danger. They held portraits of Rahul Gandhi which read ‘Truth shall now bow down’.
He said the Centre had been indifferent to the Congress demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani issue. “Only a JPC probe will reveal the full truth of the scam,” he said.
Mr. Rudra Raju said the Congress had trust in the judiciary and believed that the Supreme Court would do justice to Rahul Gandhi.
“Ppeople across the country are vexed with the misrule of the BJP and are eager to usher in change. Congress is sure to return to power at the Centre in 2024 elections,” he said.
All-India Congress Committee secretary and party in-charge for Andhra Pradesh C. D. Meyyappan, AICC secretaries Christopher Tilak and S. Prasad, former Union Ministers Chinta Mohan and J. D. Seelam, and PCC Media Committee chairman N. Thulasi Reddy participated in the protest.
