“I wanted to do it right away, but they said no, please give us till February”, Swamy said as he went on to narrate proceedings in the hearing with the customary smile that he usually dons as if up to some mischief.
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Mir said the case had been dismissed by the court on several occasions and the BJP leadership was trying to frame the Congress leaders as part of its political vendetta. On Swamy’s complaint, the court had summoned the Gandhis, Congress treasurer Motilal Vora, general secretary Oscar Fernandes, journalist Suman Dubey and technocrat Sam Pitroda.
“They were accused of appropriating properties of thousands of crores of rupees and court had taken cognizance and issued summons”.
As party leader C.P. Joshi told The Hindu, more than winning the war of public perception in the National Herald controversy, the Congress had managed to mobilise its party apparatus without spending any money.
Amid enthusiastic chants by Congress men and women, Sonia Gandhi said, “I don’t have slightest of doubt that truth will prevail”.
Yesterday, the Gandhis – who were on the board of Young Indian which acquired the paper in 2010 – appeared in court along with four other accused amid tight security.
Coming down heavily on Modi government, the Congress President said, “The present government is deliberately targeting the opposition and making full use of the state agencies to do so”. However, Mr Sibal said they did not seek exemption at all.
Three other Congress leaders who have been implicated in the case along with the Gandhis were granted bail as well.
Sonia’s daughter Priyanka Gandhi was also in the court complex along with party leaders A K Antony, Meira Kumar and Ambika Soni, are also in the court premises.
Sources said the Congress believes there is no wrongdoing as alleged by BJP member Subramanian Swamy and the HC’s “criminal intent” remark, which has been used by the BJP against Gandhis, needs to be questioned legally to wipe off the stain.
The National Herald was founded by Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister and Rahul’s great-grandfather, and was long seen as a mouthpiece for the Congress party.
Facing a private criminal complaint lodged by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in the transfer of shares of the defunct party newspaper Herald to a newly-created company, the two Gandhis, accompanied by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh besides Priyanka Gandhi appeared before Metropolitan Magistrate Lovleen at 2.50 PM.
“We do not want to comment on what happened inside the court but we will like to speak on comments made and drama done outside.
By doing this they tried to show the people accused in corruption cases as patriotic”.
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The Congress leaders had gone to the High Court seeking a stay, but on December 14, the court refused to stay the summons and asked all the accused to appear for hearing on December 19.
