Top Congress leadership including party president Rahul Gandhi will attend the relaunch of Associated Journals Limited (AJL’s) Hindi newspaper ‘Navjivan’ in Mohali on Monday. The event comes days after a special CBI court served summons to former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and AICC treasurer Motilal Vora and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached the land allotted to the AJL in Panchkula.
The event is being seen as a show of solidarity as Hooda is likely to share stage with All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Rahul Gandhi and former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who is the guest of honour. Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh will also be present along with state ministers and party leaders at Monday’s event.
The AJL, which will launch a commemorative edition of ‘Navjivan’ to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary, said it is introducing the National Herald publications to their Northern India readers.
The AJL was the publisher of National Herald, an English daily whose publication was stopped in 2008 due to “financial constraints”. Rahul and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi are facing trial in a Delhi court in a case filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swami, who had questioned acquisition of AJL by Young Indian.
The ED has attached a plot of land in Panchkula allotted to AJL by the Hooda-led Congress government in Haryana in 2005.
The central agency attached the land under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, following a CBI chargesheet against Hooda and others on the charges of “fraudulent allotment”.
The ED has alleged that the plot was first allotted to AJL in 1982 to start ‘Navjivan’ newspaper. But it was cancelled in 1992 due to “violation of terms and references”.
It said Hooda “misused” his official position by flouting the norms to allot the plot in 2005, on the rates prescribed in 1982. He had also given three extensions to AJL to complete the construction.
While Hooda was then the chairman of Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda), Vohra was chairman of AJL.
The court recently asked the two leaders to appear on January 3 following the chargesheet submitted by CBI in the case on December 1.
First Published: Dec 10, 2018 10:20 IST
Source: HindustanTimes