Rahul Gandhi sees political vendetta in National Herald case

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday termed the National Herald case a political vendetta of the BJP government at the Centre and dared the government "to do what they want to".

Speaking to reporters in Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore district about the National Herald case, Rahul, who is undertaking a tour to Tamil Nadu's flood-hit areas, said he sees an absolute political vendetta by the BJP-led central government.

"Let them do what they want to do. What I'll have to do, I'll do. Whatever allegations they want to level against me, they can do. My job is the job of an opposition. My job is to raise questions and I am not scared of all these. I'll not back off an inch," he said.

On Monday, the Delhi High Court dismissed the plea of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to quash a trial court's summons to them for personal appearance in the National Herald case. They were asked to appear on the following day.

On Tuesday, the court gave a temporary relief by asking them to instead appear before it on December 19.

On the flood situation in Tamil Nadu, Gandhi said: "I want to tell the government of Tamil Nadu and the government of India that they need to do a lot more for the people of the state. They need to be much more responsive. The people of Tamil Nadu and Chennai are suffering. The state government and the national government needs to respond to this and take action as fast as possible."

He also distributed relief materials to the flood affected people.