The running commentary of the huge posse of media persons, covering the court appearances of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, accused in the case, reached a crescendo as the mother-son duo reached at around 2.45 PM.
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They also slammed the recent raid of CBI on Delhi government Principle Secretary’s office and said that this is a sign of BJP’s frustration and nothing else.
Senior Congress leaders Manmohan Singh, Sheila Dikshit, Ambika Soni, Meira Kumar, Kumari Sheilja, Motilal Vohra and Oscar Fernanddes had been in the court room. A senior leader conceded that since the Congress leaders had opted not to apply for exemption from appearance, another such public show of support could be expected on February 20, the next date of hearing. “The court was kind enough to grant bail without conditions except for furnishing security in the sum of Rs.50,000 on behalf of each of the accused which were furnished”, Sibal told reporters after the hearing. Our fight will continue…No one can eject the Congress party. The case is based on a complaint by Swamy.
“Today, I appeared with a clear coronary heart in the courtroom like another regulation-abiding individual”.
Swamy, the lone petitioner in the National Herald case, denied he had spoken to the Prime Minister about the National Herald case.
Soon after the Congress chief launched a scathing attack on the Modi government for targeting them after she and her son got bail from a court in National Herald case, BJP hit back saying they were “fighting for corruption in a shameful manner” by doing “drama” on road.
Hundreds of supporters joined the rally and burned effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.
With the Congress firm on making “political vendetta” an issue, the government’s hopes of having crucial Bills, including the Goods and Services Tax Bill, passed in the Budget session seem remote.
That company, Young Indian Ltd, later took control of the newspaper group itself, as well as its real estate assets worth up £500m at a cut price, Mr Swarmy alleges.
The paper was set up in 1938 by India’s first premier Jawaharlal Nehru, Mr Gandhi’s great- grandfather, and folded in 2008. He said that the Congress protest was aimed at shielding the mistakes committed by its leaders in the past.
The Congress had even ferried party workers from Sonia’s Rae Bareli constituency to the AICC Headquarters here.
“We will fight this legal battle in accordance with law and we will fight the political battle both inside Parliament and outside it”, he further added.
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The two leading members of India’s Gandhi dynasty were forced to appear in court accused of corruption on Saturday, in a case at the centre of a major row between the country’s main political parties.
