Senior state Congress leaders were detained by police as they tried to march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday to raise the issue of corruption by the ruling BJP and curtailment of the monsoon session of the Chhattisgarh Assembly. This comes a day after Chhattisgarh Congress held a protest and mock Assembly session at Jantar Mantar at an event which saw the presence of Digvijaya Singh and Raj Babbar.
Senior Congress functionaries said that they had sought time from President Ram Nath Kovind to discuss various issues and submit a letter to him, but it was not granted. “Faced by all sorts of accusations, including the land deals of Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal’s family, and the CM’s address coming up in the Panama Papers, they cut short the monsoon session from eight to three days. That is the death of democracy,” a senior leader said.
The Indian Express had reported on the land deals of Agrawal’s family, in which land that a resort is being built on is under the government scanner for being forest land, for encroachment and even the acquisition of government patta land given to tribals. On Thursday, led by state Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel, Leader of Opposition T S Singhdeo and general secretary in-charge P L Punia, Congressmen began a march to Rashtrapati Bhavan but were stopped near Vijay Chowk. New Delhi DCP B K Singh said the leaders were protesting by sitting at Vijay Chowk.“They were detained and taken to Mandir Marg police station. They were released after some time.”
