National Herald case living example of Congress' corruption: BJP on ED chargesheet

New Delhi: The BJP said on Tuesday that the National Herald case, in which the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a chargesheet against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others, is a living example of the Congress' corruption.

The ruling party also alleged that the Nehru-Gandhi family was the "most corrupt" in the world.

The ED's chargesheet has made it clear how the Gandhi family did money laundering in the case, BJP MP and chief spokesperson Anil Baluni said.

“The investigative agencies are doing their job. No matter how big a criminal is, the Constitution of India will surely bring such a person to justice,” he said on X.

Baluni charged, "Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi formed a company (Young India) whose purpose was not to do business but to buy AJL (Associated Journals Limited) through it and get its assets worth thousands of crores of rupees in their names.”

Baluni said the National Herald case started during the Congress rule. “In the (ED’s) chargesheet, Sonia Gandhi is accused number 1 and Rahul Gandhi is accused number 2,” he said.

The BJP’s reaction came after Special Judge Vishal Gogne examined the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) chargesheet in the National Herald case on the point of cognisance and posted the matter for further proceedings on April 25.

The ED filed the chargesheet against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others on charges of money laundering on April 9.

The chargesheet also names Congress leader Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey as accused in the case.

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

Hitting back, BJP Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said the Congress does not have any right to do politics on the issue as the case was “registered” during its rule.

“The Congress should keep in mind that the matter started in 2012 and Delhi High Court, hearing a public interest litigation, started this case in 2013,” he said, terming the Congress’ charge against the Modi government as “extremely hollow, baseless and motivated by malice with intent to influence the probe in the case”.

Another BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla accused the Congress leaders of playing the "victim card" after indulging in "loot" of public money.

“Whosoever indulged in corruption and loot will now have to pay back. Now, ED does not mean entitlement of dacoity and entitlement of dynast,” he told PTI when asked for comment.

“They pocket the public money and grab public property and play the victim card when action is taken... They made public property their own in the National Herald case also,” he charged.

Poonawalla also slammed the Congress for calling the ED action vendetta politics, pointing out that proceedings in the case began on the order of the court.

“Do they mean the court has taken vindictive action against them?” the BJP spokesperson asked.

After the Enforcement Directorate recorded the statement of businessman Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi, in the Haryana land deal case on Tuesday, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia expressed the hope that he will face the consequences of “grabbing farmers" land in Haryana and making money out of it through corruption” during the Congress rule in the state.

“Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi had ensured that the farmers’ land goes under Vadra’s occupation,” he charged.

“It will not be wrong to say that if there is any family which is the most corrupt in the world, it’s the Gandhi family in which Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Robert Vadra are out on bail in cases of corruption,” he said.