A day before Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to appear in front of the Enforcement directorate over the National Herald case, the BJP on Sunday upped its ante as Congress leaders held press conferences across the country on Sunday. “Both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are on bail. Rahul Gandhi is supposed to appear before the ED tomorrow. But the Congress is making a huge drama out of it. They are calling all their leaders to Delhi. What is the use of all this drama? What will happen if leaders like Digvijaya Singh address press conference,” BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said.
“Why this drama of press conferences? Present yourself in front of ED and accept the wrongdoing. What is this Satyagrah? Gandhiji would be shamed to see this fake Satyagrah of fake Gandhis. Rahulji, don’t try to escape the rule. This is a legal issue and not a political issue,” Sambit Patra said.
The Congress asked its all top leaders and MPs to take out a protest march to the ED Headquarters in New Delhi and stage a satyagrah against the misuse of the central agencies by the government.
Rahul Gandhi was summoned by the ED on June 2, but the Congress leader sought a fresh date as he was not in the country at that time. Sonia Gandhi has been issued a fresh summons on June 23 as she missed the earlier date of June 8 because of Covid.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera addressed a press conference in Gujarat where he said, “Congress gave a loan of ₹90 crore to National Herald in several instalments as the paper was making a loss. There is no law in this country which says that a political party can’t give a loan to the newspaper.” The loan was later converted into equity shares and a not-for-profit company ‘Young India’ was formed, with Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi among its board members, Khera said.
But still, ED notices were sent to Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi because PM Modi had to manage headlines.
“There is not an iota of illegal activity. Despite this, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi were served notices by the ED out of political vendetta, with the aim to gain some headlines for a week,” the Congress leader said.
