NEW DELHI: The Congress on April 16 attacked the BJP and the Centre, alleging that the Enforcement Directorate’s chargesheet in a money laundering case related to the National Herald newspaper is just to cover up its failed foreign policy and prevailing economic crisis in the country.
The party said that the Government is targeting the party to hide its wrongdoings and ED’s action is driven by ‘politics of vendetta’.
The party leaders and workers staged protests opposing the chargesheet against senior leadership, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi outside the offices of the ED and the Centre across states.
Speaking at a press conference, senior leader Abhishek Singhvi said that the debt of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which publishes the newspaper, was assigned to Young India in accordance with the law.
Dismissing the charges of vengeance, the BJP, however, said that a ‘corporate conspiracy’ was hatched to transfer the properties of AJL to the Gandhi family.
Criticizing the ED chargesheet, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the Government is “hell-bent in targeting the Congress to whitewash its own sins.”
“BJP’s Economic Mismanagement is spiralling out of control. Desperation is gathering steam. No vision, no solution, only diversion!... People will not forgive the BJP for ruining the Indian Economy. We shall not be cowed down. We will keep raising our voices and keep exposing your failures,” he posted on ‘X’.
Addressing a press conference along with senior Singhvi, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh alleged that ‘politics of vendetta has been masterminded by two people.
“For the last two days, politics of vendetta, harassment and intimidation have been going on. The Congress leadership, especially Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, have been deliberately targeted…A fake narrative is being run that there has been a crime or money laundering. If there is a crime, it is on the part of those who have masterminded these allegations,” he said.
The BJP also had a press conference on the issue on Wednesday. Former law minister and BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, who addressed the conference, said that the Congress party has the right to protest, but it does not have the right to misappropriate government properties and give them to the National Herald.
“A corporate conspiracy was hatched in a very interesting way to get this entire property into the hands of the family... Young India Limited was supposed to be a charitable organisation, but till now, it is not known what charity it did... Writing off Rs 90 crores for Rs 50 lakhs and acquiring property worth thousands of crores...” said the BJP leader.
