Sonia Gandhi will be in ED office today, Congress on streets

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) today in connection with the National Herald case. The ED had earlier accepted Sonia Gandhi’s written request seeking deferment of summons after she tested positive for Covid.

She will leave for the ED office from the Congress headquarters at around 11 am.

This is the first time that any federal probe agency will be questioning the Congress president.

Earlier, the ED had questioned Rahul Gandhi for over 50 hours in five days at the agency’s headquarters in Delhi.

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CONGRESS PLANS PROTEST

Congress party workers have planned a nationwide protest against the ED’s questioning of Sonia Gandhi. The party is likely to express their anger at the government “misusing” central agencies to target opposition leaders. Congress has asked its state units to hold protests in their respective areas.

A meeting was held in Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge’s house on Wednesday to discuss and finalise the strategy for today. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said everyone in the meeting expressed their anger against the suppression of the Opposition’s voice. “Congress will stand united with Sonia Gandhi”, said Gehlot.

, ,ED pic.twitter.com/VYcviFimSO — Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) July 20, 2022

Party workers will gather at the Congress headquarters in Akbar Road from where Sonia Gandhi will leave for the ED office. A briefing will be given by Ashok Gehlot and the party's Media and Publicity Chairman Pawan Khera.

Meanwhile, the official Twitter handle of the INC shared a note on Wednesday and said, "How can the ED scare Sonia Gandhi, whose ancestors changed the geography of the world."

,







ED
, — Congress (@INCIndia) July 20, 2022

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WHAT IS THE NATIONAL HERALD CASE?

In 2012, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and advocate Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint before a trial court alleging that some Congress leaders were involved in cheating and breach of trust in the acquisition of Associated Journals Ltd by Young Indian Ltd (YIL). He alleged that YIL had 'taken over' the assets of the National Herald in a 'malicious' way.

The National Herald was a newspaper founded by Jawaharlal Nehru along with other freedom fighters in 1938.

Subramanian Swamy claims that YIL “took over” the assets of the defunct print media outlet in a “malicious” manner to gain profit and assets worth over Rs 2,000 crore.

In 2014, the Enforcement Directorate initiated a probe to see if there was any money laundering in the case. On 18 September 2015, it was reported that the Enforcement Directorate had reopened its investigation into the National Herald case.