BJP slams Congress for protests ahead of ED's questioning of Sonia Gandhi

The Congress has dubbed the probe as the ruling BJP's political vendetta

Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad. File | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

The BJP on July 21 criticised the Congress' protests ahead of the Enforcement Directorate's questioning of its president Sonia Gandhi as its "duragrah" (obstinate demand) for protecting the Gandhi family.

BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad noted that Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi, have been accused of grabbing valuable assets of the Associate Journal Ltd, which publishes the National Herald newspaper. Their plea to quash the FIR has been dismissed by every court, including the Supreme Court, the former Union minister told reporters.

"The Congress has become a pocket organisation of a family, and now its assets are also being pocketed by the family," he alleged, attacking the Gandhis.

Both are out on bail in the case, he told reporters.

Gandhis floated Young Indian, in which Ms. Gandhi and her son have 76% shares, to grab assets of the National Herald, he charged.

The Congress has dubbed the probe as the ruling BJP's political vendetta.

It has described its agitation against the ED's probe against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case as "satyagrah", a form of protest associated with Mahatma Gandhi. She is set to appear before the agency later on Thursday for questioning.

This is not "satyagrah" but "duragrah" against the country, its laws and its agencies, Mr. Prasad said. This is also a "duragrah" for protecting the family which has "pocketed" the party's assets worth thousands of crores of rupees, he alleged.

While Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP of misusing institutions, he does not want to answer the questions raised by probe agencies, the former law minister said.

He said Congress had harassed then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots cases but Mr. Modi appeared before the agency probing the matter and the BJP did not carry out any protest like the Congress has been. Mr. Modi, now prime minister, came out clean, he said.

"The BJP respects institutions but look at the Congress. Its chief ministers and MPs, who are not attending Parliament, are sitting in Delhi. They are trying to demoralise the ED," he said.