Mumbai:
Union minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said the action by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the National Herald case is aimed at protecting the nation’s assets from being “taken over by the Gandhi family for personal use”.
Mr Goyal alleged that Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were involved in a conspiracy to take control of the property, originally meant for public interest, through the now-defunct National Herald newspaper.
“The ED’s action in the National Herald case is to save the nation’s assets,” the Union commerce minister told reporters here.
Such property should be returned to the people, he said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others on charges of money laundering in the National Herald case.
“A shocking issue came before the country. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi conspired to grab wealth worth Rs 2,000 crore through the National Herald property. Today, the property is worth Rs 5,000 crore,” Mr Goyal claimed.
He said the property was originally given by a Congress-led government to the newspaper, which has since ceased operations.
“It was a Congress party newspaper and the various Congress governments gave it land. The National Herald shut down much earlier. Then they planned to rent it out. Rs 38 crore was taken as bogus advance rent by Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) under the direction of Congress leaders,” Mr Goyal claimed.
The AJL used to run the National Herald.
The BJP minister, who represents the Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat, claimed the Congress collected donations from the public under the guise of social service and political work, but used the money to provide an illegal loan to AJL.
“Around Rs 90 crore were given to AJL as a loan. It is illegal to give such a loan by a political party,” he said. The loan was later transferred to Young Indian, a company controlled by the Gandhi family, according to Mr Goyal.
“After some period, the Rs 90 crore loan was settled for merely Rs 50 lakh and transferred to Young Indian. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi control 76 per cent in Young Indian. The entire property came under Young Indian’s ownership in 2010-11 for just Rs 50 lakh,” he said.
He called the transaction a calculated move to transfer public property into private hands. “Can you tell me any better scheme than this,” asked the minister.
Mr Goyal slammed the Congress for protesting against the ED action.
“When the ED took action, Congress leaders came on the streets to protest. I condemn the Congress party, their helpless leaders, and the actions of the Gandhi family. They misused government land and changed its ownership,” he said.
Congress leaders have been protesting across the country, accusing the BJP-led Centre of misusing the ED against its top leaders in the National Herald matter.
The Union minister said such property should be returned to the people. “It should be utilised for the people and not for one Gandhi family, which was trying to keep it for its own purpose,” he claimed.
Mr Goyal said the National Herald case was filed in 2012, much before the Narendra Modi government took charge at the Centre. “All raids had taken place before we came to power,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
