New Delhi [India], March 3 : The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on the Congress leadership, alleging that members of the Gandhi-Vadra family attempted to extort Rs 7 crore from a party worker during the Haryana Assembly elections, and claimed that purported WhatsApp chats have brought "prima facie evidence" of corruption into the public domain.
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, BJP National Spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said, "In the last few days, the entire country has been talking about just one issue: that the entire Congress party has been exposed as corrupt and compromised, with the kingpin of this corruption being the Gandhi-Vadra family."
Bhandari alleged that evidence has surfaced against Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in connection with the Bawal Assembly seat in Haryana.
According to the BJP leader, Gaurav Kumar - husband of the Haryana Mahila Congress General Secretary - made public certain WhatsApp chats and conversations allegedly linked to senior Congress functionaries. Bhandari claimed these chats suggest that senior leaders sought Rs 7 crore in exchange for offering the Bawal Assembly ticket.
He named KC Venugopal, describing him as a close aide of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with Kodikunnil Suresh and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's Personal Assistant (PA) Sadaf Khan, as individuals mentioned in the purported conversations.
"One of the Congress leaders of Haryana herself has exposed and has brought facts into the public domain where there are WhatsApp chats which reveal how Priyanka Vadra, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi used KC Venugopal as a front - the same KC Venugopal who is considered to be closest to Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Vadra, and the Gandhi family. They used KC Venugopal as a front to extort - the word we are using is 'extort' - 7 crore rupees from one of the Congress workers, and not a normal worker, but the Haryana Mahila Congress General Secretary, in return promising the seat of Bawal," he said.
He added that WhatsApp chats involving Vadra's PA Sadaf Khan, Venugopal's PA Anas, and Kodikkunnil Suresh were presented publicly as evidence.
"This means today, proof has come before all of you that Priyanka Vadra, KC Venugopal, and Rahul Gandhi attempted to loot 7 crore rupees from their own Congress workers within the Haryana Congress. And these are not ordinary allegations; WhatsApp chats were presented in a public press conference involving Priyanka Vadra's PA, Sadaf Khan, KC Venugopal's PA Anas, and Kodikkunnil Suresh. These are all public, written WhatsApp conversations," he said.
He further claimed that the silence of the Congress leadership amounts to an "admission of guilt".
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