Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Dr Manmohan Singh spoke to the media after the court hearing.
With Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, its top leaders, getting bail in the National Herald case, the Congress took to Twitter and offered an elaborate defence in the case.
Here are 10 things that the Congress has said in defence of its top leaders:
In a series of more than 30 tweets the Congress said the transaction, which forms the basis of the case and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy alleges is as an attempt to grab real estate, was aimed at saving the National Herald - the newspaper founded by Jawaharlal Nehru. The paper, published by Associated Journals Limited or AJL, went out of print in 2008.
Tweeting from the Congress's official handle @INCIndia, it quoted Nehru as having said, "I will not let National Herald close even if I have to sell Anand Bhawan." AJL - the company that owned and published National Herald - was always in poor health, it said. "Over the years, the company often didn't have enough money to pay salaries of its employees, or taxes and other dues...A time came when AJL couldn't pay salaries of its employees. In the financial year ending March 2008 it booked a loss of approx Rs. 6 crore (sic)," the party tweeted.
Describing National Herald as "a part of the rich and vibrant legacy of freedom struggle", the Congress said that is why it supported the newspaper. "Therefore, from time to time, whenever asked, Congress would extend a loan by cheque, to help AJL tide over its immediate financial crisis." The party said it was "inextricably linked" to the newspaper since it was founded in 1937.
"Finally, the financial burden could no longer be borne by the AJL itself or by its benefactor, the Congress Party ...Congress party, conscious of Pt Nehru's commitment to the National Herald, consulted some eminent experts in the country on a revival plan," the party said. It added that the experts advised that "a Section 25 not-for-profit company, Young Indian" be formed.
The Congress said that the experts also advised that to bail out AJL and free it from debt burden of Rs 90 Crore, "this loan could be assigned to not-for-profit company by Congress...Thereafter, with consent of AJL's shareholders, this debt could be extinguished by issuing new equity to not-for-profit Co - Young Indian."
The transaction, it said, would ensure that the "Congress would rescue and revive Pt. Nehru's paper (sic)" and bring the parent company, AJL, out of financial distress, "without possibility of any personal benefit," the party said.
"Conversion of debt into equity is a normal business practice to restore financial health of companies that are over burdened with debt," the party said justifying the transaction, which Mr Swamy has alleged is malicious.
It said that the advice was "approved unanimously by all the shareholders of AJL, present and voting in the EGM on 21st January 2011." The loan, of Rs 90 crores, "was removed from AJL's books in perpetuity in February 2011."
The transaction, it said, saw the National Herald's parent company, show positive net worth in decades and "the company took its first steps on the path to recovery...AJL was able to declare its first profit in several years in 2011-12."
Making Young Indian, a non-profit company, ensured no shareholder or director could receive any benefit from the income that AJL earned, the Congress contends, accusing Mr Swamy and the BJP for launching "a false and politically motivated campaign to attack Congress and destroy National Herald." The matter will now come up for hearing on February 20, 2017.
Post a comment