Focused on Aam Aadmi, Congress to hold mega protest against price rise today, plans to gherao PM residence

Amid the ongoing confrontation between the ruling dispensation and the Congress over the Enforcement Directorate’s action in the National Herald case, the latter is scheduled to hold a massive pan-India protest against price rise, unemployment and imposition of Goods and Services Tax on food items today.

The party plans a 'Chalo Rashtrapati Bhavan' march from Parliament to President's House, to be undertaken by Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs. Members of Congress Working Committee and other senior leaders will also gherao the prime minister's residence.

At the state level, all PCCs will hold a 'Raj Bhavan Gherao', in which all state legislators and other senior leaders will take part. Protests have also been planned from the district down to the block levels.

“At 11am tomorrow, all Congress MPs will march to Rashtrapati Bhavan. We want to tell the President that the finance minister of the country has no idea about the problems of the common man,” said senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.

The protest is set to disrupt the traffic movement on some stretches of Lutyens' Delhi on Friday. 

The city traffic police on Thursday said special arrangements have been made and diversions will be suggested as per expected spots of congestion on major roads. Vehicular traffic will be affected on Akbar Road and parts of Ashoka Road and Raisina Road, traffic officials said.

Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) S S Yadav said, "Special arrangements have been made and necessary diversions have been suggested on expected congestion points. We have made all the contingency arrangements for all types of situations, and we will ensure that least inconvenience is caused to the public."

While the Congress is at pains to emphasise that its protest is for the issues related to lives of people and wants to dispel the notion that it is meant to defend the first family of the party over the National Herald case, its timing is what the ruling BJP objects to. 

The protest comes as the ED continues to tighten the noose against the Gandhis in the National Herald case. The agency had Wednesday sealed the office of Young Indian in the National Herald building in Delhi and questioned party leader Mallikarjun Kharge for over six hours on Thursday. 

The ED had on Tuesday launched raids at a dozen locations, including at the Herald House, as part of its ongoing money laundering probe into the National Herald-AJL-Young Indian deal.

Agency officials had left the premises in the early hours of Wednesday after they collected some documents and digital data, and questioned some staffers.

The agency had also carried out the high-profile questioning of Congress president Sonia Gandhi (in July) and her MP son Rahul Gandhi (in June) in this case at its headquarters in Delhi, apart from that of party leader Pawan Bansal in April.