New Delhi: Congress on Wednesday stepped up protests disrupting proceedings for the second day as Rahul Gandhi accused the PMO of adopting “100 per cent pure political vendetta” in the National Herald case but the government hit back saying Parliament was being used to threaten judiciary.
In the Rajya Sabha, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad alleged that a Director of Enforcement Directorate (ED), who had “rightly” decided to close the Herald case, was transferred and a new chief appointed to “reopen” the case.
While the upper house was adjourned for the second day without transaction of any business due to slogan shouting by Congress members, the Lok Sabha saw one adjournment and a short discussion on the issue that saw trading of charges between the two sides.
However, the lower house functioned, notwithstanding the continuous shouting of slogans by Congress members before it was also forced to be adjourned for the day about an hour before schedule.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, who is an accused in the Herald case along with his mother Sonia Gandhi and four others, upped the ante telling reporters the case is “One hundred per cent political vendetta. Pure political vendetta coming out of PMO. It is their way of doing politics. Pure 100 per cent vendetta”.
“I have full faith in judiciary. We will see at the end what comes out. Truth will come out.” Asked about Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu's charge that Congress was using Parliament to threaten judiciary by disruptions, he said, “It is the other way round.
Who is threatening judiciary, we all know.” Naidu, who also addressed a press conference, accused the Congress of using Parliament to “intimidate and silence” the judiciary after the Gandhis were not given relief by court in the Herald case.
He alleged that the party was practising “mobocracy” which was posing a “danger to democracy” by making Parliament “dysfunctional”.
Naidu rejected Rahul's contention that the case was “100 per cent vendetta coming out of the PMO” and wondered if he was attacking former prime minister Manmohan Singh because the case was filed when the UPA was in power.
He said Subramanian Swamy, who is the complainant in the case, was not in BJP when he had lodged it.
“Congress is thinking that it is hurting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But it is wrong because it is hurting India,” Naidu said.
“How is Parliament involved if some people (Gandhis) have been summoned by a court? Is this the job of Parliament? You want to silence the judiciary. You want to intimidate the judiciary. You are telling judiciary how dare you summon us,” he said.
