Chhattisgarh: Congress calls economic blockade on July 22 to protest arrest of Baghel’s son

Raipur: The Congress on Saturday called for economic blockade in Chhattisgarh on July 22 in protest against the recent arrest of the son of former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the Chhattisgarh unit of Congress, which met here in the afternoon to discuss the issue, decided to hold economic blockade in the state on July 22 to protest against the actions by the ED against Chaitanya Baghel, son of the former chief minister Mr. Baghel.

The ED had conducted searches in Mr. Baghel’s residence in Bhilai, nearly 35 km from here, on Friday and later arrested his son.

Chaitanya was later produced in the local court which remanded him to ED’s custody for five days.

The Congress also decided to bring vehicular traffic to halt on the National Highways in Chhattisgarh for two hours on July 22 as a mark of protest against the ED’s action.

Prominent among the leaders who attended the PAC included former chief minister Mr. Baghel, PCC president Deepak Baij and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Charan Das Mahant.

Meanwhile, former deputy chief minister of Chhattisgarh and veteran Congress leader T S Singh Deo on Saturday questioned the timing of searches in Mr. Baghel’s residence by the ED just before the Assembly session, saying, ‘The probe agency is losing its credibility due to its own working methods’.

“ED is steadily losing its credibility due to its working methods. A few months ago, they conducted searches in Mr. Baghel’s house when the Assembly session was going on. ED could have done it after the Assembly session”, Mr. Deo said.