Congress rallies behind DK Shivakumar

Congress on Tuesday rallied behind beleaguered leader D K Shivakumar, who was arrested in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate.

Congress claimed that Shivakumar’s arrest was a diversion created by the BJP government to take the focus away from the economic slowdown and the stock exchange crash.

Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala dubbed the arrest as a case of political vendetta to draw the attention away from the complete economic mismanagement of the BJP government.

“After Chidambaram, yet another leader facing vengeance for standing up against the horse-trading and petty politics of the BJP,” AICC General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal said here.

He said a wrong trend has been set by the Modi Government to harass and hunt down the political opponents with fabricated allegations.

“Although there are well proved and explicit cases of black money transactions and money laundering during the political horse-trading in Karnataka by the BJP leaders, the central investigating agencies have not registered any cases against BJP leaders,” Venugopal said.

He hailed Shivakumar as a “strong and obedient” Congress leader who was always a target of the BJP.

While the Congress leaders issued statements in support of Shivakumar, few leaders hit the streets in the national capital in his support.

A number of Congress workers from Karnataka were seen maintaining a vigil outside the ED office here as Shivakumar’s questioning continued.