BJP LAMBASTS CONGRESS OVER NATIONAL HERALD ASSETS ISSUE

BJP hits out at Congress over its condemnation of NH assets seizure.

The BJP on Wednesday hit back at the Congress over its condemnation of the seizure of National Herald assets, as the ruling party asserted that the Gandhi family must pay for its "sins".

Former Union minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad accused the Gandhi family of capturing National Herald assets by converting the now-defunct newspaper's properties into its "personal properties". Addressing a press conference, Prasad asked the Congress to explain as to how the action taken against "rank dishonesty and loot of public property" can be described as negation of democracy.

After the ED attached assets of the Congress-promoted National Herald on Tuesday, the Congress said such "petty vendetta tactics" cannot frighten it and dubbed the probe agency a "coalition partner" of the BJP. Its leader K C Venugopal slammed the BJP and the probe agencies as "murderers of democracy".

Prasad said the newspaper had prime properties in many cities and alleged that senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi appropriated these pricey assets as the shares of the firm owning it were transferred to a company where the two controlled 76 percent of shares.