Congress plans huge march on Dec 19 court appearance of Gandhis

The Congress is gearing up to make the December 19 court appearance of party president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi at the Patiala House Courts in connection with the National Herald case, a grand show of strength and solidarity.

Congress state chiefs and even Congress chief ministers are expected to be present and march from the Congress headquarters to the court premises. The party has alleged "political vendetta" by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government and is likely to seize upon this opportunity to score political mileage.

According to party sources, while the other accused in the National Herald case might seek bail, Rahul Gandhi would not opt for bail in order to get arrested. Senior leaders of Congress have of late been harking back to the example of former PM Indira Gandhi's jail stint, after which she garnered public sympathy and subsequently electoral victory.

Youth Congress workers have already been directed to make it a massive show of strength and mobilise cadres. The party hopes that by turning a court appearance into a massive show of solidarity, it would successfully subvert the BJP's hopes of putting the Congress on the backfoot.

The Sections under which BJP's Subramian Swamy has alleged the Gandhis be implicated include cheating (Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, or IPC), which is a non-bailable offence); criminal breach of trust (Section 406 of the IPC - a non-bailable offence); and misappropriation of funds - a non-bailable offence. Therefore, if the accused does not seek bail or is denied bail by the court, then the accused could be arrested.