Congress Questions Timing of ED Action Against Gandhis

Congress slammed ED chargesheet timing, called it political vendetta ahead of key state elections.

- ANAND SINGH

Even as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a chargesheet against Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the alleged money laundering case involving National Herald, the Congress has questioned the timing of the financial probe in light of the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls later this year and the party's aggressive preparations in Gujarat ahead of elections.

Several senior Congress leaders questioned the timing of the ED's chargesheet and seizure of assets, linking them directly to the party's recent two-day national convention in Gujarat, Rahul Gandhi's prolonged stay in the state, and the approaching Bihar polls.

The ED first confirmed the attachment of National Herald properties worth over Rs 660 crore in Delhi, Mumbai, and Lucknow, including the newspaper's office on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in the national capital. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have been named as accused number one and two in the chargesheet filed before a court.

The Congress leaders are accused of acquiring assets worth Rs 2,000 crore for merely Rs 50 lakh.

In an official release, the ED stated that the seizures were aimed at preventing further "generation, utilisation, and enjoyment of the proceeds of crime."

However, the Congress slammed the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, accusing it of indulging in political vendetta and asserting that no money laundering had occurred. They pointed out that not a single rupee or property was transferred from Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which controls and owns National Herald, to Young India.

Explaining the legalities of the case, senior party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who also heads the party's legal cell, said AJL had been associated with the Congress for decades. Even after independence, the party continued to financially support AJL to keep it afloat.