The Bharatiya Janata Party<\/a> (BJP) on Friday (April 18, 2025) dared Congress<\/a> leaders facing corruption charges to seek a quick and time-bound disposal of cases, as it slammed the party for citing politics as the reason for the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) action against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi<\/a> in the National Herald case<\/a>.<\/p>\n The ruling BJP kept the heat on the Opposition party following the ED’s charge sheet against the Gandhis and accused Chief Ministers from the Congress-ruled States of ploughing public money as advertisement into the weekly newspaper which few read.<\/p>\n National Herald case: No political vendetta behind ED chargesheet; Congress should answer allegations, says BJP<\/a><\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur alleged that the Congress used the newspaper as its ATM, claiming that Gandhis sought to acquire properties worth \u20b92,000 crore of the National Herald without investing a penny from their pocket.<\/p>\n He said, \u201cBoth Gandhis together owned 76% of the Young Indian company which was given \u20b950 lakh loan by the Congress. The company then took over the Associated Journals Limited, which owns the newspaper affiliated to the Congress, in lieu of \u20b990 crore it owed to the Opposition party.\u201d Mr. Thakur asked if a political party can give a loan.<\/p>\n To a question about the allegation that the ED action was politically motivated, the BJP leader dared Congress leaders facing corruption charges to move courts to seek quick and time-bound trial in the cases against them.<\/p>\n