New Delhi : After her aggression on the status of the leader of opposition for the party in the Lok Sabha, the Congress president Sonia Gandhi has spoken about ‘political vindictiveness’ in the notices from the Income Tax department in the National Herald case.
“We have been issued notices by the Income Tax department, its political vindictiveness. Such political witch-hunt will help us come back faster,” she said.
The IT department’s notice relates to an amount of Rs.90 crores that had been given by the Congress party to the company Associated Journals Ltd. that used to publish the now defunct National herald newspaper for settling the dues of its employees.
The fact that the notices had been served was confirmed by the party spokesperson and senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi. “This notice and earlier procedures are going to be given vigorous, robust and comprehensive reply. A befitting reply”, he said at the customary press briefing.
Singhvi said that all that has happened in this case was politically motivated and has been initiated by a leader in the BJP despite the fact that it has “none of the ingredients of an offence”.
Adding that this was being ‘‘flaunted” before the media and made sensational, Singhvi said: “We have much to say to the appropriate forum.”
Both Sonia Gandhi and her son, the Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, have been summoned by a Delhi court on August 7 in the National Herald case. The court had found prima facie evidence in the case following a complaint filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy.
The union information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar has said that there is no question of political vendetta. ‘‘If any law is violated then there would be action in that case. In this case the Congress, a political party, has given a loan in clear violation of the law,” he added.
