Anurag Thakur accuses Congress of misusing National Herald as ‘ATM’

Former Union Minister and Member of Parliament from Hamirpur, Anurag Singh Thakur, launched a scathing attack on the Congress during a public address and subsequent press conference in Sarahan, Sirmaur. Thakur alleged that the Congress has turned the National Herald newspaper into a personal “ATM” and accused the party of trying to deflect attention from corruption charges by raising unnecessary noise.

Thakur said: “The Congress has made the National Herald its ATM, and now it is in a ‘chor machaye shor’ mode over the issue. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi over corruption, and the Congress ecosystem seems to have gone silent in panic.”

He further alleged that the Congress leadership, from Jawaharlal Nehru to Rahul Gandhi, treated National Herald as a personal property. “Despite having no relevance to Himachal Pradesh, the Congress-led state government allotted crores in advertisement funds to National Herald, a weekly newspaper. Meanwhile, local daily newspapers in Himachal didn’t even receive basic support,” Thakur said.

The BJP leader questioned the state government’s role in allegedly funding the newspaper, calling it an unjustifiable misuse of public money. “While newspapers are generally printed on paper, National Herald is a newspaper that exists only in data and numbers. The Gandhi family must answer where the money routed through advertisements is really going,” he added.

Referring to the broader National Herald corruption case, Thakur said it serves as the biggest example of how the Gandhi family allegedly misappropriated assets worth thousands of crores. “The ED’s chargesheet naming Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and other senior Congress leaders in the money laundering case linked to National Herald and Associated Journals Ltd. (AJL) is a dark stain on the Congress high command.”

He also mentioned ongoing ED investigations into Robert Vadra, husband of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, in connection with the Gurugram land scam. “The hands of the Congress top leadership are deeply stained with scams,” he asserted. Thakur cited recent ED action, revealing that properties worth Rs 661 crore have been attached in the National Herald case, alongside AJL’s shares worth Rs 90.2 crore, which were frozen in November 2023 to prevent the accused from disposing of criminal proceeds.

“This case is a permanent black mark on the Congress leadership—one they cannot hide, no matter how hard they try,” Thakur concluded.