Tote bag firestorm returns to Parliament: Bansuri Swaraj Vs Priyanka Gandhi
NEW DELHI: Tote bag firestorm has again made an entry in Parliament as BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj donned a bag slamming Congress over the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) chargesheet against Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in the National Herald money laundering case.
At the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) meeting on ‘One Nation One Election,’ Swaraj was seen carrying a bag with ‘National Herald Ki Loot’ written on it. It was a direct slam on the Congress party.
Swaraj seems to be giving a reply in Priyanka Gandhi style, who earlier donned bags supporting Bangladeshi minorities, and Palestine on two different days in Parliament.
“It has happened for the first time that a scam has happened with fourth pillar of democracy. It is so unfortunate that public properties worth 2000 crore rupees were grabbed for just 50 lakh rupees by the top leadership of Congress and the Congress party. 76 per cent of ownership of Young India Ltd lies with Gandhi family. It shows the old mindset of Congress… Now the responsibility lies with the top leadership of Congress to respond to the chargesheet filed by the ED on April 25,” Swaraj said to PTI.
The ED filed a prosecution complaint (chargesheet) on April 9 against former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi, and others, in connection with alleged proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 5,000 crore.
The chargesheet paves the way for the framing of criminal charges and the beginning of trial in the case.
The special MP/MLA court here on Tuesday fixed April 25 as the next date of hearing to decide on taking cognisance of the chargesheet, in what marks a major turn in the case against the Gandhis and people close to them. Sonia and Rahul, named as accused number one and two, respectively, in the chargesheet, unsuccessfully moved courts to get ED’s proceedings quashed. Both are on bail.
The Congress, however, has dismissed the case as politically motivated. Party leaders have called it a “clear misuse of the ED” and an example of “vendetta politics” by the ruling BJP.
