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National Hearld case: ED summons to Sonia, Rahul part of political vendetta, says Pilot
Pilot said, both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi along with party’s present and former lawmakers, office bearers of state executives will march to the ED headquarters in New Delhi as part of a “Satyagrah” (protest).
Attacking the Centre over Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) summons to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and senior party leader Rahul Gandhi for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper, party leader Sachin Pilot on Sunday said both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi along with party’s present and former lawmakers, office bearers of state executives will march to the ED headquarters in New Delhi as part of a “Satyagrah” (protest).
While Rahul Gandhi is to appear before the ED on Monday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi will appear before the central agency on June 23. Addressing a press conference at Congress state headquarters in Lucknow, Pilot, the former deputy CM of Rajasthan, alleged, “Congress organisation nationwide is agitated. The ED notices to Soniaji and Rahulji are under a political vendetta to humiliate top leaders (of Congress).”
“Non-profit ‘Young India’ trustees cannot take any salary or profit, then what’s the logic behind the notices to Soniaji and Rahulji. The BJP-RSS are unnerved because of the ‘Bharat Chodo Jan Abhiyaan’ of the Congress. But we will not be intimidated. We won’t bend, we will fight”, Pilot said.
He claimed, “The National Herald newspaper and the Congress are not separate. The newspaper was launched as a part of the contribution to the freedom movement and uproot the British rule.”
“The Associated Journals Ltd published the newspaper. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Acharya Narendra Dev, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai and several other patriots were associated with the launching of the publication in 1937. The British rule was so scared of the newspaper that it, during the Quit India movement between 1942 and 1945, banned the paper. And today once again, those who favoured the British rule then, are engaged in suppressing this voice of the freedom movement,” he said.
Attacking the top BJP leadership, he alleged: “The PM himself is leading the conspiracy and ED is the weapon. The Congress people across the country are agitated over this fake case and conspiracy. Tomorrow (Monday), Congress people across the country will participate in the ‘Satyagrah’.” Pilot further alleged that the Modi government, which was adept in misleading the people of the country, was now blinded by “its politics of vendetta”.
Talking about the case, he claimed: “When the National Herald was going through a financial crisis, the Congress party between 2002 and 2011 gave ₹90 crore loan to it. Is giving loan a crime? With that loan, the National Herald paid pending salaries and cleared other loans. Is this a crime? A loan by a political party is not a crime, though the BJP and those who follow it blindly might consider it a crime.” “The dictator is now scared. It is clear that the dictator is restive in hiding the government’s failure on all fronts,” he alleged.
