Breaking her silence on the National Herald case, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday accused the Government of unleashing a “political witch-hunt” over Income-Tax notices sent to her and other senior Congress leaders. Talking to a TV channel, she said such “witch-hunting will only help us come back.”
“The Income-Tax notice in the National Herald case is political vindictiveness. This political witch-hunting will only help us come back and fight harder,” Sonia said in her reaction to the reported notice. However, she did not speak on the Metropolitan Magistrate Court’s summons to her and other Congress leaders including party vice-president Rahul Gandhi to appear before it on August 7 as accused.
Responding to Sonia’s allegations, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said the BJP Government was not indulging in any politics of vendetta and those who broke the law will now have to face the consequences.“We don’t believe in political vendetta. But if a law has been broken, there will be consequences,” he said.
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who filed the case in court, said the BJP was not involved in the matter and Sonia should come to the court to prove that she was not guilty.“The BJP is not even in the picture. I would like to educate her (Sonia) that this is a private complaint filed with the Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court,” said Swamy.
“The court examined this case for a long time and checked every document meticulously, and then only issued summons. Prima facie it is a case of fraud. She has to come to the court to prove that she is not guilty. I have filed a case with the Enforcement Directorate for registering a case under PMlA also and am waiting for the outcome,” he added.