It is an all out war between the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party in Parliament over National Herald case. Even as Parliament has failed to transact any major business in the Winter Sesssion of Parliament, the Congress following summons to its party chief Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case has decided to make it a political battle.
With almost half session passing away without any major work, the BJP is left with only two weeks to get the crucial Goods and Service Tax Bill and the Real Estate Bill passed. Congress's 44 MPs in Lok Sabha and 67 in Rajya Sabha stalled proceedings in Parliament a day after the Delhi High Court quashed the plea of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul to quash summons against them.
As the House proceedings commenced for the day, Congress MPs stormed into the well of both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha protesting over the "politics of revenge". Terming the case a "political vendetta", the Congress said the leaders will come out clean in the case.
In Rajya Sabha, Congress MPs were heard shouting slogans like "Tanashahi nahi chalegi" (dictatorship will not be tolerated)" and "Badle ke rajnathi nahi chalegi (politics of revenge)".
The legal issue has now become a political one and it is being fought on the floors of Parliament. Keeping a firm stance, Sonia maintained that she had nothing to be afraid of. "I'm the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi, I'm not scared of anything. Why should I be scared?" she said.
However, Sonia invoking her mother-in-law and former prime minister Indira Gandhi's name is a clear sign that there will be no cooperation between the Congress and the BJP in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament. The government has been reaching out to the Congress to pass the Goods and Services Tax Bill in the current session of the House.
Calling it a political vendetta, Rahul, who is visiting the floods ravaged Chennai, said, "I absolutely see a political vendetta. This is the way Central government functions. Centre thinks they can stop me from asking questions about them by "vendetta" politics. That is not going to happen."
The Congress members have maintained that they will continue to raise the issue in Parliament. "Will continue to raise issue in Parliament. This is political vendetta. The people of this country will show them the lesson," Congress leader Oscar Fernandes said.
After a complete washout of the Monsoon Session, the BJP cannot afford a repeat of the same in this session and targeted the Congress saying, "If you have grievance against the court, then why stall the House."
The BJP was quick to defend itself saying there is no political vendetta in the case. "It is not political vendetta. The Congress has nothing to do. We fail to understand what Congress wants. This was case filed before. No one needs to be scared. Our government does not do politics of vendetta," said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu.
Appealing to the Congress not to create ruckus in Parliament, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, "We are ready for discussion on this issue in the House. There is court proceeding and according to it Congress has collected fund for political purpose for that it gets tax exemption. Then the fund is transferred to company which is today a real estate company which is certainly not a political company. There is no logic in disrupting House over this."
But the Congress is in no mood to relent on this issue and has decided to disrupt Parliament.
Along with the Gandhis, five other accused--Suman Dubey, Moti Lal Vohra, Oscar Fernandez, Sam Pitroda and Young India Ltd--had challenged the summons issued to them by a trial court on a complaint by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy against them for alleged cheating and misappropriation of funds in taking control of the now-defunct daily.
The summons were issued on a criminal complaint lodged by Swamy for alleged cheating and misappropriation of funds in acquiring ownership of now-defunct daily National Herald.
The Congress party had loaned Rs 90.25 crore to Associated Journals Ltd. (AJL), publisher of National Herald, and on December 28, 2010 it had assigned this debt to Young Indian Ltd (YIL), the charitable company, for Rs 50 lakh, which, according to Swamy, amounted to breach of trust and cheating.
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