Congress to “expose BJP’s lies” in National Herald case through nationwide press conferences

New Delhi [India], April 21 (ANI): The Congress party will hold a series of press conferences across 57 cities from April 21 to 27 in protest against the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) chargesheet against top party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case. 

Titled "Congress Truths, BJP Lies", the campaign is aimed at countering what the party alleges is a politically motivated move by the BJP government. 

Pawan Khera, Chairman, Media & Publicity Department, AICC, called the ED's chargesheet “an anti-national effort” by the BJP to erase the legacy of The National Herald, which he described as a living monument of India’s freedom struggle. 

Taking to social media platform X, Khera wrote, “From Vijayawada to Varanasi, from Kashmir to Thiruvananthapuram — Congress leaders are fanning out across India to expose BJP’s lies and anti national efforts to kill the living monument of the freedom struggle - The National Herald. Here is the list of 57 of our leaders holding press conferences in 57 cities from April 21–24.” 

From Vijayawada to Varanasi, from Kashmir to Thiruvananthapuram — Congress leaders are fanning out across India to expose BJP’s lies and anti national efforts to kill the living monument of the freedom struggle - The National Herald.

Here is the list of 57 of our leaders… pic.twitter.com/sstF9xQDhT

— Pawan Khera 🇮🇳 (@Pawankhera) April 20, 2025

The list of 57 leaders includes prominent names such as Manickram Tagore, Gaurav Gogoi, P Chidambaram, Supriya Shrinate, Syed Naseer Hussain, Ashok Gehlot, Shashi Tharoor, Pawan Khera, Bhupesh Baghel, Manish Tewari, Kanhaiya Kumar, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Rajeev Shukla, Alka Lamba, etc. 

According to the schedule shared by Khera, Manickram Tagore will hold press conference in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, Gogoi in Jorhat, Assam, Chidambaram in Delhi, Gehlot in Shimla, Tharoor in Lakshadweep, Shrinate in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, Khera in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Tewari in Chandigarh, Surjewala in Hyderabad, and Alka Lamba in Varanasi. 

Earlier on Saturday, the Congress party announced the launch of a nationwide 'Save Constitution' campaign across the country from April 25, which will continue till May 30. 

The party will also counter the BJP's disinformation campaign about the National Herald issue, with senior leaders holding press conferences in different cities across the country.

This decision was made at a meeting of the Congress general secretaries, state in-charges, and heads of various frontal organisations, presided over by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, in the national capital.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, party general secretary-communications, Jairam Ramesh, disclosed that in follow-up to the resolution passed at the Ahmedabad AICC session, the 'Samvidhan Bachao' rallies will be organised at the PCC level from April 25 to April 30.

This will be followed by similar rallies at the district level from May 3 to May 10. From May 11 to May 17, the Samvidhan Bachao rallies will be held across 4,500 assembly segments nationwide. From May 20 to May 30, a door-to-door campaign will be held to save the constitution.

Jairam Ramesh accused the BJP government of misusing the Enforcement Directorate against the Congress leaders. Referring to the National Herald issue, he said, there was no legal issue involved, as it was just a case of political vendetta orchestrated by two individuals with a criminal mentality.

He announced that to counter the BJP's disinformation about National Herald, Congress leaders will hold press conferences in different cities across the country from April 21 to April 24.

"This is not a legal issue, but a political issue smacking of political vendetta, politics of persecution, intimidation and fear mongering", he observed. 

On April 15, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a prosecution complaint (chargesheet) against top Congress members Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in connection with the money laundering case involving the National Herald.

The chargesheet also names Congress leader Sam Pitroda, Suman Dubey and others, including several firms.

The prosecution complaint has been filed under Sections 44 and 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, for the offence of money laundering, as defined under Section 3, read with Section 70, and punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA, 2002.

The complaint was filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, their associated companies, and other individuals. (ANI)