National Herald case: BJP says no one has license to loot

New Delhi: Asserting that no one has a "license to loot", the ruling BJP on Wednesday dismissed the Congress' charge of vendetta after the ED chargesheeted Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case.

Former law minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the law will take its own course under the Modi government and that probe agencies will not be fazed by the "threats" of the Congress.

Speaking to reporters, he asked the Congress to reply to the substance of allegations against the Gandhis instead of merely offering a political reaction, noting that the opposition party found no relief from the judiciary in its pleas against the probe.

He outlined the main charge against the Gandhis that as the 76 per cent share-holder of the Young India company they "misappropriated" thousands of crores of real estate owned by the Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which owned the National Herald newspaper.

The senior BJP leader said the Congress has the right to hold 'dharnas' (to protest the ED chargesheet against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul) but that right does not extend to misappropriating public properties given by the government to the National Herald.

He accused the Congress of issuing threats to the probe agency and asked if the party and Gandhis believe in the due process of law or not.

"We condemn the threats from the Congress. There is Modi government in place. It will allow the law to take its own course," he said.

The Young India, he said, wrote off the Rs 90 crore loan that the Congress had given to the AJL and got the ownership of the company with a paltry investment of Rs 50 lakhs.

The land was given to the AJL by the government, he said, adding that the National Herald was allegedly used by the Congress establishment to collect advertisement and properties.

He alleged, "A newspaper that was established in the freedom struggle to espouse the voice of those fighting the British imperialism degenerated into a money-minting exercise for the Congress party establishment."

Taking a swipe, he said this is the "Gandhi model of development" as he noted the allegation against Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra of pocketing a huge profit in a land deal in Haryana with the collusion of the then Congress government in the state.

The National Herald was started in the 1930s as a voice of the freedom struggle with 5,000 shareholders but was reduced to a fief of the Nehru-Gandhi family, he alleged.

Prasad claimed that Congress leaders like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Chandra Bhanu Gupta had voiced concerns over the manner in which the newspaper, which has ceased to publish, was run.

The Enforcement Directorate has filed a chargesheet against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and others before a special court here in the National Herald case, accusing them of allegedly laundering Rs 988 crore.

The Congress described the ED's chargesheet as vendetta politics and claimed seizing of assets in the case was a "state-sponsored crime masquerading as the rule of law".