Karnataka Congress legislators staged a protest in front of the Mahatama Gandhi statue at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, the legislative building in Belagavi, Wednesday, accusing the BJP-led Centre of misusing its powers in the National Herald case to implicate Congress leaders.
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Speaking at the protest, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah alleged that the BJP was indulging in hate politics and spreading false propaganda by filing baseless cases against Congress leaders. “The BJP’s conspiracy was foiled, and justice has been served in the court,” he said.
Siddaramaiah’s remarks came in the wake of a Delhi court Tuesday declining to take cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s prosecution complaint filed against senior Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, and five others in the National Herald case.
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“Whether at the Centre or state level, wherever the BJP is in power, they are targeting Congress leaders by painting them as criminals. By making such false allegations, the BJP is engaging in malice with a hidden agenda. It is resorting to such tactics to hide its own mistakes,” he said.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, speaking to reporters following the protest, said that the court order proved the innocence of Congress leaders. “They (the BJP) cannot defeat us through conspiracies, nor can they weaken us through hatred,” he said, calling the court ruling a face loss for the BJP.
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A conspiracy was hatched to send Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to jail, he alleged, demanding an end to such “politics of hatred”.
“These protests will continue at the taluk and district levels,” he added.
The National Herald case centres on the 2010 acquisition of The Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the publisher of the National Herald newspaper, by a newly formed company, Young Indian (YI). The central agency alleges money laundering, claiming the takeover was a fraud to convert public/party funds into personal use.
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In a 117-page order, Special Judge Vishal Gogne of Rose Avenue Court ruled that the money laundering probe was “not maintainable” because it was based on a private complaint rather than a formal First Information Report (FIR) for a scheduled offence, which is a legal prerequisite under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)
The court declined to take cognisance of the money laundering offence primarily on two grounds: the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had not even filed an FIR, establishing a predicate offence that could trigger a money laundering probe, and the ED probe was based solely on a private complaint by former BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.