National Herald case: Ram Jethmalani ‘revokes’ offer of help to Sonia, Rahul Gandhi

Former BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Jethmalani has “revoked” his offer to defend Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case after she did not act on his “advice” to allow Parliament to function in the normal way. He told Mrs Gandhi that as a senior practising counsel and parliamentarian, he was “not happy” with what had been happening in the Rajya Sabha “for the last few days”.

In a letter to Mrs Gandhi on December 10, 2015, Mr Jethmalani told her that he had “no reason to doubt” her stand that the prosecution instituted against her and her son by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy is “false and malicious”. Mr Jethmalani posted his letters on his blog Thursday. “But this is to be established in court and not by tumult and disorder in the Rajya Sabha,” he had told Mrs Gandhi during the time the Congress had paralysed the Rajya Sabha during the Winter Session.

He said in the letter that the “institution of Parliament is suffering a total loss of public respect This does not augur well for the Indian democracy.”