Uttam accuses BJP defaming Nehru-Gandhi family via ED

By Our Special Correspondent

Alleging that the BJP government at the Center is targeting the Nehru-Gandhi family with baseless allegations, Congress MP and former TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has asked the party workers to participate in the nationwide protest on July 21 and 22.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will visit the Enforcement Directorate office on July 21 in response to the summons sent by the ED in the National Herald case.

Addressing a press conference through Zoom app on Tuesday, Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the BJP government of using central agencies, especially the Enforcement Directorate, as a tool to target opposition leaders. He said that the allegations of money laundering made by the Enforcement Directorate in the National Herald case are completely false.

He said the ED or any other central agency has no basis to question Congress president Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi. He pointed out that the National Herald issue was a simple debt-equity swap with no cash transactions. He said that since no money was involved in the transaction, the question of money laundering did not arise.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the BJP government is only using the ED to discredit the Nehru-Gandhi family, denigrate the Congress cadre, and divert people's attention from real issues like rising inflation and Chinese intrusion into India.

Debt-to-equity conversion is a common process, he said, and is often done by lending banks. The Congress leader said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government has revived the previously closed edition of the National Herald.