Bhopal, Apr 16 (PTI) Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday slammed the Enforcement Directorate for naming Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as accused in a charge sheet filed in the National Herald case, calling it a political conspiracy and attempt by the BJP to suppress the people’s voice.

The Nehru-Gandhi family never enriched itself but “gave away its wealth to the country”, they said.

The ruling BJP, however, pointed out that the alleged money laundering case was registered in 2013 when the Congress was in power.

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi was named accused no 1, and her son and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi accused no 2 by the central agency in the prosecution complaint or charge sheet filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a special court in Delhi on April 9, accusing them of laundering Rs 988 crore.

Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath said the BJP government at the Centre showed its “desperation” by filing the charge sheet.

“BJP is trying to suppress the voice of the people of India by suppressing the voice of the top leadership of the Congress. Therefore, such a case which has no substance is being deliberately raised,” he said on X.

It was an “open political conspiracy” to tarnish the image of the Gandhi family, Nath said, adding, “but the oppressors should remember that the Congress and Gandhi family do not bow down.” Former prime minister Indira Gandhi was jailed in a dictatorial manner (after she lost power in 1977) but she never bowed down, he said, adding that a propaganda campaign was also run against Rajiv Gandhi but in the end the allegations turned out to be false.

Congress veteran Digvijay Singh said since 1930 the Nehru-Gandhi family is the only family which has given away its wealth to the country but has not acquired any wealth for itself.

“No corruption charges have been leveled to date. The BJP and RSS are using ED, IT (Income Tax Department) and CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) as political weapons. We strongly condemn this,” he said.

State Congress chief Jitu Patwari claimed at a press conference here that the BJP was now resorting to vendetta due to political rivalry.

The saffron party was attacking the democratic system by targeting opposition leaders through central agencies, he alleged.

Sonia Gandhi is not in good health and has to visit hospital almost daily, he said, adding that the ED action against her under these circumstances was condemnable.

Patwari later staged a protest outside the ED office in Bhopal. Congress leaders including V K Batham and Mahendra Singh Chauhan were present on the occasion.

The state Congress chief carried a caged parrot, claiming that the ED was acting like one as it is only doing the BJP’s bidding.

State BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma termed the ED action as purely technical and legal.

The Congress should answer how did a company with a liability of Rs 90 crore become worth thousands of crores, and why newspapers like National Herald, Qaumi Awaaz and Navjeevan incurred losses despite Congress being in power for six decades, he said.

The property of National Herald was transferred to a company named Young India which was solely run by the Gandhi family, Sharma alleged.

“The National Herald case started in 2012 and the first case was registered in 2013, when the Congress was in power in the country. The Congress should tell us who in the party conspired against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi,” he said. PTI MAS KRK