Rajasthan Congress workers on Monday protested across the state against the Income Tax Department’s action to freeze the bank accounts of the Congress and the Youth Congress.
Raising slogans, the party workers protested outside the Income Tax Department’s offices located at district headquarters.
In Jaipur, Congress leaders, office bearers and workers gathered at the party’s War Room, from where they marched raising slogans against the central government. The protestors were stopped by police near Statue Circle. Police had barricaded the area ahead of the protest.
NSUI and Youth Congress workers tried to climb the barricades but were stopped by police. The party workers, including MLAs and former ministers, sat on a dharna on the road.
The Congress’ main bank accounts were frozen on Friday over an income tax demand of Rs 210 crore but an I-T appellate tribunal later allowed it to operate them, pending a further hearing next week, a huge relief for the party which said the move had impacted all political activity.
Former ministers Shanti Dhariwal, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, MLA Amin Kagzi, Rafeeq Khan, Prashant Sharma, Shikha Meel Barala, Abhimanyu Punia, state general secretary Jaswant Gurjar, R R Tiwari and Anil Chopra were present in the demonstration.
Khachariyawas alleged the BJP government failed at the Centre. The party has failed on the issues on which it contested elections ten years ago, he said.
He said that efforts are being made to stop party leader Rahul Gandhi’s visit. They want to the Congress across the country and make the party leaders join the BJP.
“The BJP wants to eliminate the Congress. But the Congress is not going to end. The more conflict the BJP creates, the more Congress will emerge. Now, the BJP’s lies and deceit will not work. There is tremendous corruption in Rajasthan and Centre. The BJP wants to get votes by pitching Hindus and Muslims against each other,” he alleged.
Congress MLA Rafeeq Khan said, “Democracy is in danger. Freezing the bank accounts of the Congress is an attempt to prevent the party from contesting elections.
There is no valid reason behind freezing bank accounts.” Later in a press conference, the party’s state president Govind Singh Dotasra alleged it is a model of the BJP to create fear and threaten by misusing the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department.
“It is a model of the BJP to create fear and threaten by misusing the Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department. This is an effort to kill democracy,” Dotasra said.
He said that freezing the bank accounts of the Congress ahead of the model code of conduct and the Lok Sabha elections is a conspiracy to keep the main opposition party out of the election process.
He said that the party has protested across the state at the respective I-T Department offices against the “cowardly act”.
Dotasra said that Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ will enter Rajasthan on February 25.
To take stock of the preparations, Dotasra will visit Dausa, Bharatpur and Dholpur along with the party’s state in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully.
Comments
0 comment