In the Rajya Sabha, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad alleged that a Director of Enforcement Directorate, who had rightly chose to close the Herald case, was transferred and a new chief appointed to reopen the case.
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“I have full faith in the legal system”, he said at the same breath.
Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge accused the government of “intimidating the opposition”.
They, however, did not specifically mention the National Herald case in their protests in either of the House. The Congress had loaned Rs 90.25 crore to the publisher of National Herald Associated Journals Ltd. On December 28, 2010, it had assigned this debt for Rs 50 lakh to charitable company Young India Ltd., in which some Congress members are directors.
“By disrupting Parliament on the issue and calling the summons by the trial court political vendetta, Congress has proved that it believes in nothing”, Hussain said in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP may be pleased with the embarrassment of the Congress but that does not mean that it is behind the case and has pursued it to hound the party.
On the Congress’s protests which resulted in the stalling of proceedings in Parliament, Mr Gandhi said, “As far as the stalemate in Parliament is concerned, an impression is being given that we (Congress) are not interested on the GST issue”.
“The plea of vendetta is being used for political coverage …”
To a question on why the government is not taking action on the National Herald issue or against Sonia’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, he said the matter is in court and law will take its course. Hopes were raised for the long-delayed legislation to be passed this year after Modi met Congress president Sonia Gandhi last month and both parties showed signs of compromise.
“We will make the people realise that they made a mistake by electing Narendra Modi as prime minister”, Sibal said.
“We want Congress to respond why they are not letting Parliament function?”
“The government is following a set pattern in targeting Congress leaders under its vendetta politics”.
Amid the din, Kurien got the listed papers of the day laid on the table of the House, but two of them to be laid by Congress members were not tabled.
On Tuesday, the court gave a temporary relief by asking them to instead appear before it on December 19.
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In response, the Congress Party has been blocking the Parliament since, and caught in the protests is the Goods and Services Tax Bill or GST Bill, arguably the biggest economic reform bill in over two decades.
