BJP seeks enquiry into Cong loan to Associated Journals Ltd

New Delhi, Nov 3: Dismissing the claim of

about merely giving an unsecured loan to Associated Journals Ltd, the

today pressed for a probe into the issue.

It is worth noting that Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy has already urged the Election Commission to de-recognise Congress since under the Income Tax Act, political parties are not supposed to provide loans for commercial purposes.

Congress leaders tried their best to defend their chief Sonia Gandhi and her son, averring that the party had tried to support the publisher of National Herald and other newspapers and therefore Associated Journals Ltd was given Rs 90 crore as interest-free loan.

BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman pointed out that her Congress counterpart Janardan Dwivedi "did not wait for the media to ask questions and was not ready to answer questions." She stressed that the ruling party must reply to queries on issues of corruption.

About the increasing number of rape cases in Haryana, the BJP spokesperson asked, "Would (Mahatma) Gandhi and (Jawaharlal) Nehru justify the 27 rapes in one month?"

She also hit out at Sonia Gandhi who had gone to the home of a gangrape victim in Oct but refused to condemn the state government. "You go to visit a Dalit home affected by rape, and pat the chief minister (Bhupinder Singh Hooda). Is this what Gandhi and Nehru have taught you?"

The BJP spokesperson remarked: "It is astonishing the way in which the Congress party remembers leaders who for them should have been top priority to follow in terms of conduct. Today they remember them to cover up their mistakes, to cover up the insensitivity with which they are running the country."

Nirmala Sitharaman slammed the Congress for reappointing its controversial spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi whose name figured in the CD controversy. "You bring back people who have been charged and questioned on public behavior... is this an extension of Nehru and Gandhi's ideological commitment to the people of India?" she demanded to know.

Citing the recent cabinet rejig, the BJP spokesperson noted that "corrupt ministers" were not discarded. "So what was the removal for then?" Nirmala Sitharaman was apparently referring to Salman Khurshid who was shifted to the Ministry of External Affairs despite serious allegations pending against him.

The Uttar Pradesh government ordered an enquiry after a sting operation by the TV Today group exposed financial irregularities in the functioning of the Dr Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust that is run by Khurshid's wife Louise. India Against Corruption leader Arvind Kejriwal had levelled similar charges too.

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