Rahul Gandhi will not back down even if sent to jail; National Herald not his personal property: K’taka Dy CM Shivakumar
Bengaluru: Commenting on the FIR filed against the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in connection with the National Herald case, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and State Congress President D.K. Shivakumar said on Monday that Rahul Gandhi will not back down even if he is sent to jail.
“The Central government is misusing investigative agencies to harass Rahul Gandhi out of political vengeance,” he said, while hitting out at the BJP-led Union government.
Responding to queries from the media at Vidhana Soudha on Monday, Shivakumar said: “This is unfair. There is a limit to how much anyone can be harassed. There is no need to harass him (Rahul Gandhi) in this (National Herald) case. National Herald does not belong to Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi personally. Since they held the post of the Congress President, they were custodians of the institution’s shares.”
“Even the Chief Minister (Siddaramaiah) and I are Presidents of various boards and corporations. As Presidents, at least one or two shares are registered in our names. Once our tenure ends, these shares are transferred. Similarly, our leaders, because they were Presidents of the Congress party, have carried this responsibility of the National Herald institution as a tradition continuing from the time of former PM late Jawaharlal Nehru,” he added.
“Whether it is Young Indian or National Herald, they (Gandhis) have already declared that none of this is their personal property. It belongs to the Congress party. They are merely custodians on behalf of the party. There are many members involved. During the time of Morarji Desai and Ahmed Patel, certain decisions were taken in the interest of the Congress party,” Shivakumar said.
“During the crisis under Sitaram Kesari’s leadership, at a time when the party was sinking, we Congress leaders approached Sonia Gandhi and begged her to take up the responsibility of leading the party. After she took charge, our party governed for 10 years, after which we ruled the country for 10 years with an economist at the helm,” he added.
“Now, this is being done only to harass us politically. History will repeat itself. Even if they send Rahul Gandhi to jail, he will not be disturbed by it. This politics of hatred by the Central government is wrong. I want to tell the Centre that they will gain nothing from this. It will only diminish the moral standing of the Central government. Let us do politics directly among the people. Let us fight in elections. But using investigative agencies to harass someone like this is unacceptable,” he said.
“Simply, it is a political torture. This is jealousy. Rahul Gandhi never cared for these developments. Rahul Gandhi never cares if he is put in jail also. Its not good. The vindictive politics will only demoralise BJP’s ethical values,” Shivakumar added.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the BJP indulged in taking political revenge against Rahul Gandhi.