Congress top brass discuss ED chargesheet against Gandhis, evolve strategy

New Delhi: Top Congress leaders met on Saturday to evolve a strategy in the wake of the Enforcement Directorate naming former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in its chargesheet in the National Herald case connected to alleged money laundering.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge attended the meeting of party general secretaries and in-charges of various states to discuss the issue and chalk out the party’s future course of action, sources said.

Kharge said Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were named in the ED chargesheet and National Herald properties in Delhi, Lucknow and Mumbai were attached with a “spirit of vendetta”.

The Congress, however, will not be cowed down by the ED action in the National Herald case, he said.

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“You must have noticed how, as part of a big conspiracy, the names of CPP chairperson Sonia Gandhi and leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi were put in the chargesheet in the National Herald case. But no matter whose name they put, we are not going to be afraid,” Kharge said.

“Just two or three days before the ED chargesheet, the properties of National Herald in Delhi, Lucknow and Mumbai were attached. There is no doubt that all this is being done with a spirit of vendetta,” he added.

Asserting that Young Indian is a ‘not-for-profit’ company, Kharge said this means that no one can take or transfer the shares, properties or profits of the Associated Journals Limited (AJL).

“The BJP leaders are misleading the people by lying. We have to tell the truth to the public,” Kharge said.

The Congress chief also said that it cannot be a mere coincidence that on one hand the AICC session is being held in Ahmedabad, and immediately after that such a big action is being taken by the ED.

He claimed that when the Congress plenary was held in Raipur, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi got our leaders raided using the ED and the CBI to make it fail”.

He said the prime minister’s intention was to prevent the session from taking place but it happened.

“Our accounts were closed before the (2024) Lok Sabha elections, yet the people doubled our numbers in the Lower House. Our fight did not weaken,” he said.

Kharge also said the Supreme Court has given importance to the points raised by the Congress and the other opposition parties on the Waqf (Amendment) Act, alleging that the Centre raked the ‘Waqf by user’ issue deliberately to create a dispute over such properties.

Referring to the pleas against the Waqf (Amendment) Act being heard in the Supreme Court, Kharge said, “I am happy that the top court has given importance to the points raised by the Congress and the other opposition parties.”

He also accused the BJP and the Central government of misleading the people on the issue of Waqf.

“The issue of ‘Waqf by user’ has been deliberately brought up by the government to put Waqf properties into dispute,” he alleged.

The Supreme Court is currently hearing this case, and “we are confident that we will win this battle too”, Kharge said.

“The Congress brought together the entire opposition against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill. People from all the INDIA bloc parties supported us,” he said.

The government and the BJP leaders left no stone unturned to spread rumours and confuse people on the Waqf issue, he claimed.

“We have to go among the people and make them aware of our side and expose the conspiracy of the BJP. Apart from this, there are many burning issues facing the country, which we have to keep raising. We must continue to work in a planned manner,” Kharge said, as he asked the other leaders to put forth their views before deciding on a future strategy.

The ED has filed a chargesheet naming Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others before a special court here in the National Herald case, accusing them of laundering Rs 988 crore.

It is alleged that a “criminal conspiracy” was carried out by the Congress leaders to “usurp” properties worth Rs 2,000 crore of its public company Associated Journals Limited by transferring 99 per cent shares to a company named Young Indian for just Rs 50 lakh, where Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are the majority shareholders.

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