Post-announcement of probe into Cong-linked trusts, Rahul takes on PM over 'intimidation'

Hours after the Centre ordered a probe into the alleged violations by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and other Congress-linked trusts, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday maintained that he will not be intimidated. He claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi lived under the illusion that everyone could be lured by money or be intimidated. Gandhi contended that "those who fight for the truth" could not be intimidated.

From the beginning of the LAC faceoff with China, Rahul Gandhi has been an ardent critic of the Narendra Modi-led government's handling of the situation. He has alleged Chinese occupation of Indian territory and soldiers being sent to fight unarmed- claims vociferously denied by the PM and the Ministry of External Affairs. Gandhi is a trustee of both the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust, which will be probed. 

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Congress faces serious accusations

The political blame game between BJP and Congress commenced after 20 Indian Army personnel were martyred in a violent clash with Chinese troops at the LAC on June 15. BJP accused the Congress leadership of having close ties with China. For instance, the MoU signed between former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Wang Jiarui, Minister of the International Department of Central Committee of the CPC on August 7, 2008, has come in for criticism.

The agreement reportedly pertained to exchanging high-level information and cooperation between Congress and the CPC besides providing the two parties with the "opportunity to consult each other on important bilateral, regional and international developments”. Moreover, BJP highlighted that Congress-backed RGF had received a donation of Rs.90 lakh from the Chinese Embassy in India in 2006-07. While Congress president Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of the trust, senior party leaders such as Dr.Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra serve as trustees.

On June 26, BJP president JP Nadda shared documents to show that the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund money had been donated to the RGF. Terming this as a "brazen fraud", Nadda contended that one family's hunger for wealth had cost India immensely. While the Congress party has admitted that an MoU was signed with CPC, it claimed that the PMNRF money donated to the RGF was utilised in tsunami relief work. 

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