(17 Dec) Vendetta politics: Cong show of strength to mark Herald case New Delhi : There are strong indications that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul’s appearance at a Delhi court on December 19 in connection with the National Herald case would also be an occasion for a show of strength by the party. Authoritative sources have indicated that the two top leaders who have been charged along with five others are likely to prefer ‘jail to bail’ and are not inclined to seek bail, even if offered by the court. “You will get to know our strategy on December 19,”quipped party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala when asked to comment on this issue. All lawmakers, chief ministers and senior party leaders have been asked to remain present at the party headquarters on the morning of December 19, and they could all march to the court in solidarity with the leaders.
The case, filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, accuses the Gandhis and four others of forming a company with the intention of acquiring property belonging to the now defunct newspaper National Herald that was founded by Jawaharlal Nehru. The seventh entity summoned in the case is Young Indian, the company formed by them, in which the Gandhis own 76 per cent shares. Whereas the Congress has charged that the government is indulging in vendetta politics, union finance minister Arun Jaitley has maintained that is a baseless allegation as Swamy was not in the BJP when the case was filed. Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate has raided the office of former union finance minister P Chidamabaram’s son Karti in Chennai. The reason for the raids is unknown, but Karti issued a statement saying that there was no basis for the agency to visit his office. “Neither I nor any of my family members have any connections with the said firms,” he said. Reacting to the ED’s action, Chidambaram said, “Nothing was found in the “fishing and roving enquiry, and observed that the “foolish” government was harassing his son Karti and wondered how far it would go.
