Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that there is a "political vendetta" in the National Herald case. Both Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul have been asked by the Patiala House Court to appear before it on December 19 in connection with the case.
"I absolutely see a political vendetta. This is the way Central government functions. Centre thinks they can stop me from asking questions about them by "vendetta" politics. That is not going to happen," said Rahul.
The Gandhi scion said while he's on the visit to flood-ravaged Chennai and Puducherry where over 260 people have lost their lives and hundreds have been rendered homeless.
In a jolt to the Congress, the Delhi High Court had on Monday dismissed the Gandhis' plea to quash the summons against them and also asked them to appear before the trial court on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Congress counsel Kapil Sibal said that they respect whatever the judge says but can always differ too. "Judge says Congress party cannot give loans to anybody and in this case Rs 90 crore to a company - Associated Journals Ltd and the judge calls it criminality. We differ to what the judge says. Can I ask BJP how they spent money? BJP invested in mutual funds and got dividents from it and claimed it as business returns in its expense, but can we question that?"
Lashing out at Bharatiya Janata Party leader and petitioner Subramanian Swamy, Sibal said, "Subramaniam Swamy has been given the specific task to target the Congress party. He is his master's voice. Swamy is BJP power of attorney holder to prosecute Congress."
Along with the Gandhis, five other accused--Suman Dubey, Moti Lal Vohra, Oscar Fernandez, Sam Pitroda and Young India Ltd--had challenged the summons issued to them by a trial court on a complaint by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy against them for alleged cheating and misappropriation of funds in taking control of the now-defunct daily.
The summons were issued on a criminal complaint lodged by Swamy for alleged cheating and misappropriation of funds in acquiring ownership of now-defunct daily National Herald.
The Congress party had loaned Rs 90.25 crore to Associated Journals Ltd. (AJL), publisher of National Herald, and on December 28, 2010 it had assigned this debt to Young Indian Ltd (YIL), the charitable company, for Rs 50 lakh, which, according to Swamy, amounted to breach of trust and cheating.
Comments
0 comment