Rahul Gandhi threatens to sue after Subramanian Swamy accuses Gandhis of 'fraud'

November 2, 2012
rahul_gandhi_sonia_gandhi

New Delhi, November 2: Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy today accused Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul of "a stinking deal" where they floated a private company which then went on to illicitly acquire a public limited company which has valuable property in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. He alleged that the Congress gave an unsecured loan of Rs. 90 crores to the company that was acquired by the Young Indians, a firm that he says is controlled by the Gandhis.

Mr Gandhi's office has threatened legal action. A letter to Mr Swamy describes his charges as "scandalous abuse" and "as utterly false, baseless and defamatory."

Sam Pitroda, technocrat and adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also threatened legal action against Mr Swamy. "There are lots of legal options against this motivated and irresponsible content. To be frank and fair, I am surprised that these things are going on in India today. I don't know how else to respond. I would rather spend time and energy worrying about development."

Mr Swamy's Janata Party belongs to the NDA, the coalition of opposition parties led by the BJP. He has asked for an inquiry by the CBI and the Corporate Affairs Ministry.

Mr Swamy said that the Gandhis together owned 76% of a company named Young Indians, which was incorporated in November, 2010, and allegedly went on to acquire the Associated Journals, which was founded by Jawaharlal Nehru and others in 1938 to publish newspapers that would offer Indians an option to British publications. The National Herald was published first in 1938; it closed down in 2008.

Mr Swamy claims that Associated Journals was given an unsecured loan of 90 crores from the Congress party - illegal under the Income Tax Act because a political party cannot give loans for commercial purposes.

He also alleged that the Young Indians wrote off the loan for 50 lakhs, and by a board resolution, the Associated Journals was sold by transferring its shares to Young Indians. Through this, Mr Swamy said, a public firm morphed into a private company.

The deal, Mr Swamy alleged, was a conspiracy to grab prized property owned by Associated Journals in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, including the Herald House (See pic) in the capital, which Mr Swamy says is worth 1600 crores.
Among his flurry of charges is that the Young Indians' shareholders meeting "was held in Sonia Gandhi's Government allotted 10, Janpath. This is violation of the law since the 10, Janpath, New Delhi Government accommodation cannot be used for commercial purposes and business."

The Congress was dismissive of Swamy's allegations, saying that there are some characters who utter "anything, anytime". "In every society and country, you have some characters. The person you are referring might be one of them who could speak anything, anytime," Congress General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said.

"The government should immediately order a probe into the allegations," senior BJP leader Balbir Punj said.


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News Network
June 27,2020

New Delhi, Jun 27: Fuel prices were hiked by the oil marketing companies for the 21st day in a row on Saturday. Petrol and diesel will now cost Rs 80.38/litre and Rs 80.40/litre respectively in the national capital.

The price of petrol is increased by Rs 0.25 per litre while that of diesel by Rs 0.21 per litre.
Rates differ from state to state depending on the incidence of value-added tax (VAT).

Notably, oil marketing companies have been adjusting retail rates in line with costs after an 82-day break from rate revision amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. These firms on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs.

The Congress party had called the increase in the price of petrol and diesel 'unjust', 'thoughtless' and demanded from the Central government to roll back increase with immediate effect and pass on the benefit of low oil prices directly to the citizens of this country.
In an official statement, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) had said that no government should levy and impose such unacceptable strain on its people.

Before the nation entered the lockdown, the average price of petrol and diesel in Delhi was Rs 69.60 per litre and Rs 62.30 per litre respectively.

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News Network
March 26,2020

Panaji, Mar 26: Three persons, all with travel history abroad, tested positive for coronavirus in Goa on Wednesday, health department officials said, as the tourist haven joined the states which have reported COVID-19 cases.

This is the first time the tourist state has reported coronavirus positive cases.

The Directorate of Health Services, in a late night press statement here, said three suspected cases of COVID-19 from Goa, whose test results were awaited, have turned out positive.

All three are male patients of ages 25, 29 and 55 years. They have travel history of returning to Goa from Spain, Australia and the USA, respectively, the officials said.

The condition of the trio, admitted in Goa Medical College and Hospital near here, is stable, the officials added.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the state is providing the best healthcare facility to the diagnosed patients.

I have been informed by the state Directorate of Health services that three individuals have been tested positive for #COVID19 in Goa.

"We are providing the best healthcare facility to the diagnosed patients, he said.

Their condition is stable at present. e have also traced their contacts and are quarantining them, Sawant added.

Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said the government is taking all precautions and following guidelines related to the viral infection.

In view of the three positive coronavirus cases in Goa, we are following all guidelines laid down by the central government and taking all precautions with the support of chief minister Pramod Sawant, he said.

Our testing facility will be up and running in the next two days. Our team of doctors is doing its est to make sure we contain the spread of virus in the state, Rane added.

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March 31,2020

New Delhi, Mar 31: India is likely to blacklist about 300 foreigners who came from 16 countries, including Malaysia and Thailand, on tourist visas but attended an Islamic congregation at Nizamuddin here that has become a key source for the spread of coronavirus in the country, officials said on Tuesday.

These foreigners were among around 8,000 people who attended the Tabligh-e-Jamaat at Nizamuddin Markaz facility in March, many of whom have shown symptoms of COVID-19, a Union Home Ministry officlal said.

About 30 of those who attended the Nizamuddin event in mid-March tested positive and at least three have succumbed to the infection in last few days.

"Those who came on tourist visa but attended the Nizamuddin event stands being in our blacklist as they have violated the visa conditions. Tourist visa holders can't attend religious function," a Union Home ministry official said.

If a foreigner is put in the Home ministry's blacklist, he or she can't travel to India in future.

A total of 281 foreigners were found by the police at the Nizamuddin campus in the last two days.

They include 19 people from Nepal, 20 people from Malaysia, one from Afghanistan, 33 from Myanmar, one from Algeria, one from Djibouti, 28 from Kyrgystan, 72 from Indonesia, 7 from Thailand, 34 from Sri Lanka, 19 from Bangladesh, three from England, one from Singapore, four from Fiji, one from France and one from Kuwait.

Most of these foreigners came on a tourist visa, an official said.

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