National Herald case another chapter in Cong’s ‘model of corruption’: Thakur
BJP leader Anurag Thakur on Friday alleged that the Congress-ruled states funnelled money into the National Herald newspaper through advertisements, saying that the case was yet another chapter in the grand-old party’s alleged model of corruption.
“Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states don’t provide donations to National Herald, instead, they funnel money to it through advertisements. On what grounds are these advertisements being given?" Thakur questioned during a presser at BJP headquarters in the national capital.
The National Herald case revolves around the acquisition of properties worth over Rs 2,000 crore of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the publisher of the National Herald newspaper, by a company called Young Indian Limited (YIL). This company is jointly owned by Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, each holding 38 per cent of the shares.
On April 11, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiated proceedings to take possession of immovable assets worth Rs 661 crore linked to the Congress-controlled newspaper and the AJL.
Days later, the ED filed a prosecution complaint (chargesheet) in a PMLA court against Rahul, Sonia and party’s overseas chief Sam Pitroda in an alleged money laundering case.
Thakur remarked that since Independence, several scams have been linked to the Congress, but the National Herald case remained a glaring example that continued to raise serious questions and was hard for anyone to overlook.
“The Congress party provided a loan of Rs 50 lakh to set up Young Indian, with the aim of acquiring AJL. At the time, AJL owed the Congress around Rs 90 crore, while its assets were valued at nearly Rs 2,000 crore. With just a Rs 50 lakh investment, Young Indian gained control over assets worth Rs 2,000 crore, and the remaining Rs 89.5 crore debt was written off by the Congress itself," Thakur said.
He alleged that in Congress-ruled states, Chief Ministers didn’t offer donations to this paper, but provided funds in the form of government advertisements.
“This raises a serious question as to on what grounds are these ads awarded? Prominent daily newspapers with multiple editions across various districts receive barely any funding, while this weekly paper, National Herald, is handed a fortune," he said.
India