A day after the Enforcement Directorate order to attach properties worth Rs 751.9 crore in the National Herald case, former Union minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday termed the development “a new low in politics”.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had issued orders to provisionally attach properties worth Rs 751.9 crore in a money-laundering case investigated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 against the Associated Journal’s Ltd (AJL) and Young Indian (YI).

“ED attaches Rs 752 crore worth properties of AJL. Allege YI shareholders owners of AJL’s assets of cheating and breach of trust. Shareholders are never owners of company’s assets.
YI a not for profit company. A new low in politics,” Sibal wrote on X.

The Congress also slammed the ruling BJP over the ED’s action and said, “It reflects their desperation to divert attention from certain defeat in the ongoing Assembly elections in five states.”

“Reports of attachment of AJL’s properties by the Enforcement Directorate are a clear indication of the BJP’s panic in the ongoing elections. Staring at defeat in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram, the BJP government feels compelled to misuse its agencies,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a social media post.

He asserted that this attempt too will fail and the BJP will be defeated in the polls.

“This pattern of misuse of agencies during elections by the BJP establishment is not new and now stands fully exposed before the entire nation. National Herald was the voice of the Freedom Movement. The Indian National Congress is proud of its role in the Freedom Movement,” Kharge added.

The Indian National Congress has full faith in the wisdom of the people of India to see through this “nefarious game”, he added.

Senior Congress leader and party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “This is a prefabricated structure of deceit, lies and falsehood, of by and for the BJP, to divert, distract and digress in the middle of elections. No BJP coalition partner—CBI, ED or IT—can prevent certain impending defeat of the BJP.”

He said these “petty vendetta tactics” shall not frighten the Congress in any way.