New Delhi, (Samajweekly) Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday trained his guns at BJP over Enforcement Directorate (ED) attaching properties of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the company which owns various publications including National Herald.
The Congress said that it is a clear indication of the saffron party’s panic in the ongoing elections and their attempt will fail.
Kharge also said that pattern of misuse of agencies during elections is not new which now stands fully exposed before the entire nation.
“Reports of attachment of AJL’s properties by the Enforcement Directorate are a clear indication of the BJP’s panic in the ongoing elections,” Kharge wrote on X.
“Staring at defeat in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram, the BJP government feels compelled to misuse its agencies. This attempt too will fail and the BJP will be defeated in the polls,” he said.
The Congress leader said, “This pattern of misuse of agencies during elections by the BJP establishment is not new and now stands fully exposed before the entire nation.”
Reminding the role of the National Herald in freedom struggle, Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said: “National Herald was the voice of the freedom movement. The Indian National Congress is proud of its role in the Freedom Movement. We are reminded of Pandit Nehru’s quote on the masthead of the newspaper — ‘Freedom is in peril, Defend it with all your might’.”
“We will continue to fight for the ideals on which our democratic republic is founded. The Indian National Congress has full faith in the wisdom of the people of India to see through this nefarious game,” he added.
His remarks came after the ED attached the properties of AJL worth Rs 751.9 crore
The investigation agency claimed that both Congress-linked organisations were ‘beneficiaries’ of proceeds of crime and the assets included immovable properties.
The ED said that its probe in the money laundering case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act revealed that “AJL is in possession of proceeds of crime in the form of immovable properties spread across many cities of India such as Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow to the tune of Rs 661.69 crore and Young Indian (YI) is in possession of proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 90.21 crore in the form of investment in equity shares of AJL.”
The ED registered a case of money-laundering on the basis of process issued by a Delhi Court after taking cognisance of a private complaint vide order dated June 26, 2014.
