Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi was questioned for about two hours by the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday in the National Herald money laundering case. Gandhi, who was posed queries on her knowledge about decisions related to National Herald, has been asked by investigators to appear again on July 25.

The Congress, in a bid to rally behind the top leader, launched an offensive against the government inside Parliament and across the nation, accusing it of using investigative agencies to target Opposition leaders.

Enforcement Directorate officials said the questioning ended after two hours on a request from Gandhi, who is recovering from Covid. But, the Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh refuted the agency's version by insisting there is "no truth in this, it is absolutely baseless and devoid of facts" and that the party chief is ready to answer "any question, anytime". The questioning started at the Enforcement Directorate office at around 12.30 pm and ended at about 2.30 pm, said agency sources. Sonia's daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accompanied her mother to the ED office.

Meanwhile, Congress MPs Manickam Tagore, Gaurav Gogoi, among others, gave separate adjournment motion notices in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha seeking a discussion on the misuse of law enforcement and investigating agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate. Parliament could not conduct business due to disruptions by the Opposition, who raised the issue when the House convened on Thursday morning.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, however, criticised the agitating MPs in the Lower House and said the Congress thinks it is above the law. "Everybody is equal before the law or not? Is the Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) a superhuman being? They (Congress) think they are above the law...," Prahlad Joshi told the Lok Sabha.

Opposition parties issued a joint statement slamming the Centre for its "relentless vendetta against political opponents".

Condemning the act, the statement stated, "The Modi Sarkar has unleashed a relentless campaign of vendetta against its political opponents and critics through the mischievous misuse of investigative agencies. Prominent leaders of a number of political parties have been deliberately targeted and subjected to harassment in an unprecedented manner".

The opposition parties, the joint statement said, had resolved to "continue and intensify our collective fight against the anti-people, anti-farmer, anti-Constitution policies of the Modi Sarkar that is destroying the social fabric of our society". Inside the Parliament building complex, Congress parliamentarians marched from Gate No 2 to Gandhi Statue.

The Congress MPs and workers were detained by the Delhi Police for protesting against what they said was the misuse of the ED. The police had deployed force in the New Delhi area, especially around the Congress' office at 12 Akbar Road and the ED office, to avoid any untoward incident.

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