The Congress is now likely to approach the Supreme Court.

the Delhi high court on Monday dismissed their pleas to grant them exemption from personal appearance  Sonia & Rahul Gandhi to appear in court in National Herald case  The summoning order was passed on a petition by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi will have to appear before a court on Tuesday after the Delhi high court on Monday dismissed their pleas But senior advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal has repeatedly argued that the loan was



assigned to clean AJL’s balance sheet and revive the company.  Against summons issued in a case related to alleged irregularities in the acquisition of a daily newspaper, National Herald. The high court also declined to grant them exemption from personal appearance before the trial court in the matter. The Congress is now likely to approach theSupreme Court.The summoning order was passed on a petition by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who had alleged cheating and breach of trust in the acquisition of Associated Journals Limited – the publisher of National Herald – by a company called Young Indian Limited, in which the Gandhis reportedly hold shares.The Gandhis had challenged the summoning order before the HC.The Congress party and its lawyers have repeatedly said there was no wrongful gain or loss in the transaction, rejecting Swamy’s charges that the acquisition was used to divert AJL’s commercial properties – worth over Rs 2,000 crores – for deriving rent.Started in 1938 by Jawaharlal Nehru, the National Herald’s circulation and financial health steadily deteriorated over decades, leading to its closure in 2008 with a debt of Rs 90 crore on its head.Swamy accused the Congress of loaning this money to AJL and then assigning the debt to YIL for Rs 50 lakh – a transaction that the BJP leader said amounted to cheating and a breach of trust.But senior advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal has repeatedly argued that the loan was assigned to clean AJL’s balance sheet and revive the company.Swamy, however, contended the Congress leaders betrayed the Indian government as well as various state governments by getting prime land on concessional rates on the pretext of running a publication, and instead using the same for building malls or renting them out for commercial gains.