'Have been caught stealing again': Anurag Thakur attacks Cong, Gandhis over Herald case (Ld)

New Delhi, April 18 (IANS) Stepping up the offensive on Congress party and Gandhis over indictment in the National Herald case, former Union Minister Anurag on Friday said that the name of publication is itself enough to create a sensation of ‘fear and anxiety’ in the entire Congress system.

Addressing a press conference, the BJP MP spoke on how the Gandhis tried to ‘usurp’ the properties of Associated Journals Limited (AJL) worth Rs 2,000 crore and also accused the Congress-ruled states of funding a newspaper, which has ‘no circulation and no readers.’

“Whenever the name of National Herald is taken, this creates sensation across the entire ecosystem of Congress party. They get rattled because they have been caught stealing again,” Anurag Thakur said.

He said that the Congress party has been found to be involved in various corruption scandals after Independence and this is the latest to come to light.

“For saving Associated Journals Limited (AJL), a new company was formed in name of Young Indian, whose 76% stake holding remains with the Gandhis (Sonia and Rahul Gandhi). The Young Indian took over the company, that publishes National Herald and for this, the Congress party gave a loan of Rs 50 lakh,” he claimed.

“Now, the question arises – can a political party give loan?,” he asked.

Further taking a swipe at the Congress party, he said that the newspaper that ‘nobody reads’ gets more funding than any leading daily newspaper and blamed the grand old party and its ruled states for 'encouraging' corruption.

“National Herald is a weekly newspaper. Nobody reads it. It doesn’t even get printed. Some newspapers are published on paper while some remain only on paper. This is of the latter kind,” he pointed out.

“But, this paper receives bigger funding than a daily newspaper. Many Congress-ruled states give advertisements to run this newspaper, he added.

“This is the Congress model of corruption,” he remarked.

--IANS

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