At the court hearing of the National Herald case, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi were granted bail on personal bonds of Rs.50,000 each.
After the hearing, the mother and son duo arrived at AICC headquarters to address a press conference amid a din of sloganeering from party workers.
“I went to court with a clean mind and like a law abiding citizen. I have no doubt that the truth will come out,” said Ms. Gandhi. “We are not facing this political vendetta for the first time, we have faced it in the past too. It won’t weaken our resolve. Our fight for the poor will continue.”
Ms. Gandhi handed over the microphone to her son, Mr. Rahul, who chose to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I respect the law,” said Mr.Gandhi, “Modi thinks by filing false cases, the Opposition will bow down. But we will continue to fight for the poor.”
Former Prime Minister and senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh said that the Congress party will stay united in support of the Gandhis. “We will fight and we will give determined fight because we stand for certain values, certain ideas, certain ideals and nobody can detract the Congress party from that path,” said Dr.Singh.
As the Gandhis left the venue, Congress leaders continued to engage with the media to explain the finer legal points of the court proceedings.
Speaking to The Hindu, senior Congress leader and the counsel of Gandhis, Abhishekh Singhvi said that the party proved its civility by not “politicizing” the case and strictly asking its leaders and workers to stay quiet. “We promised that we will fight it legally and we are doing that quite successfully,” Mr. Singhvi said, adding that the Gandhis will have to appear in future hearings as they refused for personal exemption.
Mr. Singhvi also said that the court rejected Subramanian Swamy’s plea to impose restrictions on the passports of Ms. Sonia and Mr. Rahul.
Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, told The Hindu that the court understood how weak and politically motivated Dr.Swamy’s allegations were and granted bail to the Gandhis in “just a five-minute long hearing.”
“We are happy with the way courts are looking into this matter. The truth will come out soon,” he said.
Dr. Swamy had alleged that the two Congress leaders were involved in cheating and misappropriation of funds in acquiring the now-defunct National Herald newspaper and its publishing house, Associated Journals Limited (AJL).
The next hearing is scheduled on February 20th.
