The other accused in the case AICC Treasurer Moti Lal Vora, AICC General Secretary Oscar Fernandes and Suman Dubey were also present in the court room.
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Dr Singh stood surety for Sonia, while Priyanka Vadra gave surety for her brother Rahul.
Swamy pressed the court to impose conditions on the foreign travel of the accused, which was not accepted by the court. “They refuted the allegations in their bail application”, Cheema, the Gandhis’ lawyer said. They had to navigate through jostling lawyers, journalists, security men and party workers to reach their cars. Swamy said in a tweet. The court appearance was short as they were granted bail in about five minutes.
Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters: “All this hype and hoopla was unnecessary by the press”.
“Prima facie, it is a case of political persecution as the Herald case is not new”.
It took only a few minutes for the Gandhis to walk in and out of the Patiala House courts on Saturday afternoon. “This is a victory for democracy”, Swamy told media outside the court premises. Walking towards the court room with smiles on their faces, the Gandhis looked calm.
It followed a tumultuous week in Indian politics which saw members of the embattled Congress and their allies throw parliament into chaos several times in protest at the case. After the success of the Grand Alliance in Bihar, the index of Opposition unity is expected to swell in most states – not a pleasing scenario for the BJP. I am a Jan Sanghi. “We should remind them that it is just bail, which they got, not the Bharat Ratna”, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told ANI.
Separately, Modi clashed with Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, head of the anti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after federal investigators searched the city administration s headquarters, with Kejriwal branding the premier a “psychopath”. Sam Pitroda, yet another accused, was granted exemption from personal appearance today on medical grounds.
Meanwhile, complainant Subramanian Swamy clarified that he did not oppose the move for bail during Saturday’s proceedings.
Before all that, the winter chill was pierced by sloganeering cadre as Sonia and Rahul were joined by the likes of Manmohan Singh, Meira Kumar, Antony, Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyanka and others on the journey from the party office to court.
A trial court had on June 26 a year ago issued summons to the Congress leaders on Mr Swamy’s compliant about “cheating” in the acquisition of AJL by Young India Ltd, a firm in which the two Gandhis had each a 38 per cent share.
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Party insiders said the top brass was also anxious about a presser planned by Kirti Azad, MP, to highlight corruption in a cricket body that was once headed by the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley.
