\'Have to fight them\': Sonia tells D K Shivakumar during her visit to Tihar

New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday met D K Shivakumar in Tihar jail, her party’s lead troubleshooter in Karnataka, who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with money laundering case, reported news agency ANI. Sonia was accompanied by party general secretary in-charge of Karnataka KC Venugopal. Shivakumar's brother D K Suresh was also present during the meeting of the Congress leaders.

The Delhi High Court will give its verdict on Shivakumar's bail plea on Wednesday.

Last month, Sonia was at Tihar to visit former minister P Chidambaram who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the INX Media case.

According to Hindustan Times report, these visits by Sonia Gandhi are designed to send a message that the party firmly stands behind the two senior politicians. The Congress said both of them had been targeted by central agencies because of political vendetta, not because they violated the law.

"We have to fight them and come out of this," Shivakumar’s brother Suresh said, quoting the Congress president, according to news agency Press Trust of India.

Sonia’s visit came days after former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy from the Janata Dal Secular met Shivakumar at Tihar.

"It was a cordial meeting. He is very confident that he can face everything. He has that capacity. Whoever wants to do vengeance politics, they will be taught. This is a personal visit. We worked together. I came here to give confidence to him. He is mentally very strong. He will fight it with boldness. He has given all details and he co-operated with them very well. Anyone can guess why this is all going on," Kumaraswamy told reporters after his meeting with the Congress leader.

DK Shivakumar was arrested by the ED on September 3 in a money laundering case based on a complaint filed by the tax department in September 2018 alleging hawla transactions and tax evasion.

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