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Karnataka Congress to hold protest against ED summons to Sonia, Rahul on July 21
The federal agency had accepted a request from Sonia Gandhi seeking postponement of the questioning in the case and asked the Congress president to record her statement with the agency in the last week of July.
Congress state president DK Shivakumar on Sunday said his party will hold a protest on July 21 against the central government’s decision to “torture” their national leaders over the National Herald case.
“The Congress president and my former president, both of them are being harassed by the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) government which is unfair. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are ready to cooperate with any type of investigation. Madam (Sonia Gandhi) was unwell. She could not participate (in the probe) and sought time... The Parliament session is going on, and they have summoned her. But we have to convey whatever witch-hunting is going on, whatever torture you are going to give to our party leader,” Shivakumar said.
His statement comes days after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued a fresh summon to Sonia Gandhi in the National Herald money laundering case on July 21. The federal agency had accepted a request from Sonia Gandhi seeking postponement of the questioning in the case and asked the Congress president to record her statement with the agency in the last week of July.
The 75-year-old Congress president wrote to the agency seeking more time on the grounds that doctors had “strictly advised her to rest at home following her hospitalisation on account of Covid and lung infection”. She was supposed to appear before the ED on June 23, HT reported.
She was first issued a notice for an appearance on June 8, but after she tested positive for Covid-19, a fresh notice was issued for an appearance on June 23.
Her son and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had appeared before ED officers for a couple of days in the same case. During this time, many Congress leaders had taken to the streets in protest against the alleged misuse of central agencies against Opposition members.
Gandhi arrived at ED headquarters amid protests by hundreds of Congress workers. He was being asked questions about the acquisition of the Associated Journals Limited (AJL) by Young Indian Private Limited (YIL), people aware of the matter said, HT reported.
The National Herald, started by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was published by the AJL. In 2010, the AJL, which faced financial difficulties, was taken over by a newly-floated YIL with Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda as directors, both of them Gandhi loyalists.
In a complaint in the Delhi High Court, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy accused Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds. Officials familiar with the probe said Rahul Gandhi is being asked questions about the takeover of the AJL by YIL since the Gandhis have 76% stakes in the latter.
CT Ravi, the BJP national general secretary on Sunday, said it was an insult to democracy if the Congress protested against any investigation of wrongdoing against its party leaders.
“In this issue, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are not innocent. If they were innocent, they would not have transferred 38% each (National Herald) to their own names. If they hadn’t done it, they would not have been investigated,” Ravi said.
He said the National Herald was started by freedom fighters and was not meant to become personal property. “Isn’t it a crime when public property is being made private property?” he said.
“If we allow this, then tomorrow whoever is corrupt, we cannot question. If they get people to protest and try to cover it up, it will send out a wrong message, and the Congress is out to do this. People who are corrupt, if they give a message that they can flaunt it, it is dangerous to Indian democracy,” Ravi said.
