TNI Bureau: The Congress organised a torchlight protest march in Bhubaneswar, condemning what it described as the BJP government’s “politics of vendetta” in connection with the National Herald case.

The Congress alleged that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is being misused to harass senior party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi through what it termed as false allegations of financial irregularities. Terming the developments unprecedented in Indian politics, the party announced statewide torchlight protests across all districts of Odisha.

In Bhubaneswar, the protest march was led by Bhubaneswar District Congress Committee president Prakash Jena and held in the presence of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das. The march began from Congress Bhavan and proceeded towards the BJP office, where effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were burnt as a mark of protest.

Several senior Congress leaders and workers participated in the march, including Suresh Routray, Shivananda Ray, Nabajyoti Patnaik, Manoranjan Das, Biswajit Das, Shubhendu Mahanti, Ranjit Patra, Manas Acharya, Janaki Ballav Patnaik, Alok Mahanti, Prakash Mishra, Amiya Patnaik, Ashok Das, Manoranjan Jena, Suryakanta Jena, Jayakrishna Mallia, Jayakrishna Subuddhi, Brahmananda Sahu, Rajkishore Barik, Tarun Mishra, Prabhat Pratap Singh, Satyabrata Nayak, Kailash Sahu, Lulu Ahmed, Khageswar Mallik and others.

The Congress reiterated that it would continue its protests until what it called the “misuse of central agencies for political vendetta” is stopped.