Coal scam: Sonia Gandhi leads solidarity march to Manmohan Singh's residence

New Delhi: Sonia Gandhi on Thursday marshalled the collective political might of the Congress leadership to hit the streets of Delhi in an a significant solidarity show for former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who was made an accused and summoned by a Delhi special court in the Hindalco coal-allocation case.

The move came after a considered decision of the party high command that it should make the court order against Singh a plank for a political battle against “legal unfairness” and “political vindictiveness” against the former PM widely acknowledged for his honesty. In an attempt to link the Modi government to the legal troubles of Singh, Congress leaders have already asked why the Centre has not made statement that it supported the CBI probe which exonerated Singh in the case.

On Thursday morning, Gandhi gathered top Congress leaders and party MPs at Congress headquarters, chaired a CWC meeting to express solidarity with Singh and then led a march of top party leaders from 24 Akbar Road to the Motilal Nehru Marg residence of Singh. “I was outraged at the news that summons had been served to Manmohan Singh. We are here to offer our unstinted support, our solidarity,” Gandhi told media on reaching Singh’s residence.

Many top leaders lined up before TV cameras to express solidarity with Singh. The leadership also directed state Congress units and the Youth Congress to make similar solidarity show and statements.