Bhubaneswar: Protesting the deposition of Congress high command Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi in the Patiala House court on Saturday in connection with their alleged complicity in the much-talked about National Herald case, the Odisha Congress took out a rally in the Odisha capital.
Reports said the Congress workers, led by the senior party leaders including Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Prasad Harichandan, AICC Secretary and Odisha in-charge Subhankar Sarkar and Leader of Opposition Narasingh Mishra, took out a rally from Congress Bhawan to Lower PMG Square shouting slogans against the Centre.
Police later detained senior party leaders.
“We will continue our fight against the Centre for its political vendetta on our party supremo. Our fight is against the BJP-led Narendra Modi government, BJP leader Subramanyam Swami and their party men who have unleashed political vendetta against the Congress,” Harichandan said.
Lashing out at the Modi government, Sarkar said the deposition of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the court is a political vendetta.
“These people (the BJP) had brought allegation against Rahul Gandhi that he has taken the citizenship of United Kingdom to which the court had later declared it as false. The Congress had brought freedom for the country and framed laws. We have faith and confidence on the judiciary. We will stage legal fight against such injustice. We will fight for justice inside and outside the parliament against the political vendetta of the Centre,” he pointed out.
Reports from Sonepur said the District Congress Committee workers took out a protest rally from Patabhadi Chhak giving slogans against the BJP-led NDA government for deliberately implicating their party supremo Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in National Herald case.
The rally later culminated at the district collector’s office.
In Balangir, the workers and leaders of the District Congress Committee staged demonstration in front of the office of the district collector.
It is worthwhile here to mention that BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had filed a complaint before the trial court in 2012, alleging the involvement of the Congress leaders in cheating and breach of trust in the acquisition of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) by Young Indian Pvt Ltd (YIL), as assets worth crores of rupees had been transferred to YIL.
He had alleged that YIL, which has Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi on its board of directors, had maliciously taken over the assets of the defunct print media outlet to gain profit and assets worth over Rs 2,000 crore. Apart from the Gandhis, Congress treasurer Motilal Vora, general secretary Oscar Fernandes, journalist Suman Dubey and technocrat Sam Pitroda were also named in the case.
Swamy had also alleged that YIL had paid just Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore, which the AJL had owed to the Congress party, given earlier as a loan to start the newspaper. According to documents, 76 per cent of shareholding of YIL is with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, while the remaining 24 per cent vests in the others named in the case. The complaint has also alleged that the loan given to AJL was illegal, as it had been taken from party funds.