Anurag Thakur slams Congress over National Herald case, calls paper an ‘ATM’ for party

BJP leader Anurag Thakur on Friday launched a scathing attack on the Congress party over the National Herald money laundering case, accusing it of using the publication as a financial “ATM” for party operations. His remarks come days after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a chargesheet against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and others in connection with the case.

Speaking at a press conference at BJP headquarters in Delhi, Thakur questioned why the Congress created Young Indian (YI) — a company in which the Gandhis hold a 76% stake — instead of directly clearing Associated Journals Limited’s (AJL) debts. He alleged that YI’s formation enabled the transfer of AJL’s properties, worth ₹2,000 crore, for just ₹50 lakh.

“If Congress wanted to waive loans, why was it not done for AJL’s shareholders?” Thakur asked, emphasizing that one family now controls assets that originally belonged to thousands of shareholders. He accused the Congress of waiving ₹89.50 crore of the ₹90 crore debt without due process.

Thakur also took a jibe at the relevance of the National Herald, saying it was a "non-regular" newspaper that barely published or circulated but still received hefty advertisement payouts from Congress-ruled states. “Daily newspapers are paid in cents, but National Herald is given a silver coin,” he quipped.

Highlighting the ED's findings, Thakur said the chargesheet provides detailed evidence — including amounts, locations, and dates — exposing the “Congress model of corruption.” He cited how the Himachal Pradesh government allegedly paid crores to the National Herald for advertisements between December 2022 and February 2025.

Thakur also condemned Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s defence of the newspaper, and demanded transparency on the use of AJL properties given at concessional rates. He questioned whether even the rents for these properties were fictitious, calling for public disclosure of ad payments and circulation statistics.