National Herald case: Swamy is Modi's 'mask', says Congress

The Congress accused the Central govt of resorting to "unprecedented" level of vendetta politics

In the backdrop of National Herald case, Congress today launched a no-holds barred attack against government, accusing it of resorting to "unprecedented" level of vendetta politics and targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the petitioner Subramanian Swamy was his "mask".

Just before Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi were to appear before a court here, a host of party leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, Anand Sharma and Randeep Singh Surjewala, addressed the media to attack the NDA government, particularly Modi.

Azad said Congress was not afraid of "targeting" by the Modi dispensation and asserted that the more the party is attacked, the sooner it will return to power.

"The BJP government is resorting to unprecedented level of vendetta politics. The country has never seen this kind of politics. We will fight out the battle," said the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.

Calling Swamy a "mask" for Modi, he said the BJP functionary has been awarded with a bungalow for dragging Congress leadership to court even though he was not a Parliamentarian or government official.

"He (Swamy) has been placed under Z-category and allotted a government bungalow. He is not a member of the Parliament nor from a border state. He is not facing any threat from any terrorist organisation....The bungalow was given as an award for dragging the Congress leadership to court," said Azad.

He said the country has seen "unprecedented level" of vendetta politics since BJP came to power at the Centre and cited CBI raid against Himachal Chief Minister, "conspiracy" to bring down Congress government in Arunachal and raid at the Delhi Secretariat.

"Before elections, BJP had given a call for Congress-free India, now they are trying to have a Opposition-free India: Congress," he said.