CHANDIGARH: Senior Congress leader and Member of Parliament from Chandigarh, Manish Tewari, today alleged that the chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the National Herald case against Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, was an act of “sheer political vendetta” aimed at maligning the party leadership by the ruling party. Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also alleged that the chargesheet was purely a case of “political witch-hunt.”Speaking to the media today, alongside senior party leaders including Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Capt. Sandeep Sandhu, Tewari said the case would eventually collapse in court, as there was nothing unlawful or illegal involved.He explained that the Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which was founded by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and other senior leaders and freedom fighters to publish newspapers like National Herald, Navjeevan, and Qaumi Awaz, had run into massive losses, accruing liabilities and outstanding debts of around Rs 90 crores. He said that, as per standard corporate practice to clean up balance sheets, a new company, Young Indian Limited (YIL), was incorporated.Tewari stated that the Congress paid off the Rs 90 crore debt of AJL over a period of 10 years and subsequently acquired its shares. These shares were later transferred to Young Indian Limited through a standard corporate practice of debt-equity swap. He emphasised that converting debt into equity is a common legal practice, and this was precisely what happened in the AJL case.
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