Rahul to appear before ED today, Cong cries vendetta politics

Bhopal: Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi will appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Delhi on Monday morning in connection with an alleged money laundering case even as the grand old party accused the ruling BJP of indulging in vendetta politics.

The ED had issued summons to Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the money laundering case linked to the National Herald-Associated Journals Ltd deal. “Rahul Gandhi will go to the ED office on Monday morning from the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters. Congress MPs and working committee members will be present at the party office at 9.30 am on Monday,” , Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh told reporters here at a press conference on Sunday.

When asked if the Congress MPs and working committee members would take out march to the ED office along with Gandhi, he said no decision has been taken on that yet. “The AICC will discuss with the local administration, after which it will be decided if some leaders will go with him (Gandhi) or not,” Singh said. The ED had closed the case in 2015 after finding that there was no truth in it, he claimed. “No FIR has been registered so far in this case. There is no proof...This is an effort to put political pressure on Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. This is politics of pressurising. It has become the habit of the present regime to frame false cases for political vendetta,” Singh said.

The Rajya Sabha member said the Gandhi family never bowed before the British. “Will the family whose two members attained martyrdom for the country be afraid of such summons and fake cases? This case will be faced and fought strongly,” he said.

The case pertains to the probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the party-promoted Young Indian that owns the National Herald newspaper. The paper is published by Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and owned by Young Indian Pvt Limited. Officials said the agency wants to record statements of Rahul and Sonia Gandhi under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.