A. Surya Prakash

Sonia Gandhi's autobiography like Mahatma Gandhi's. She will not tell like Gandhi the darker side of her life Those who read book must read this tweet also. At a time when a crusader.against corruption is advertising Sonia Gandhi's book I think it is necessary to recall my articles in 2009 and 2012 openly charging Sonia with having secret billions abroad This was when she was the mightiest in the country 2004-14 I took her on and challenges her with articles after articles in the New Indian Express questioning her loyalty to the country and also her honesty and charging her with holding secret billions abroad in two articles in 2009 and 2012 Neither Sonia nor the Congress would respond or sue me When Sonia Gandhi told her party workers in Mangalore on April 27, 2009 that "the Congress was taking steps to address the issue of untaxed Indian money in Swiss banks". I challenged her with this article in the New Indian Express 16 May 2012 titled "Who will probe first family’s billions?" The article opened ... Mrs Antonia Maino (aka Sonia) Gandhi has finally broken her silence on the Indian slush money abroad. She told her party workers in Mangalore on April 27, 2009 that "the Congress was taking steps to address the issue of untaxed Indian money in Swiss banks". Schweizer Illustrierte, in its November 11, 1991 issue exposed Rajiv Gandhi (bottom row, second from right) among 14 politicians from developing nations And ran.. Mrs Antonia Maino (aka Sonia) Gandhi has finally broken her silence on the Indian slush money abroad. She told her party workers in Mangalore on April 27, 2009 that "the Congress was taking steps to address the issue of untaxed Indian money in Swiss banks". The delayed response of the first family of the Congress party, troubled by the issue from the word go, is understandable. But, the Swiss money has already become an electoral issue. That is what has finally forced the family to speak so that the party is not any further seen as being in denial and cynical about the Indian slush funds abroad. It is the family's silence, and the party's denial, that turned the issue into an election agenda. Shorn of the allegations normal in election time, all that L K Advani had said on March 29 was this: 'Mr Prime Minister, vigorously take up the issue of Swiss type secret banking and tax havens in the G20 meeting of April 2'. Had the PM told Advani that that was precisely what he was intending to do, that would have been the end of the BJP effort to make an issue of it. A Congress party, unburdened by its first family's anxieties, would have done precisely that, particularly when elections are round the corner. But neither the PM nor the party officials would dare do that. Why? Read on for the underlying drives. The first family has other, perhaps bigger, reasons to worry, apart from about the Bofors slush money. Two more stunning exposures — but not as well-known as the Bofors scam — make the first family a target for investigation on slush money. Now on to the heart of the story which has three limbs. First: $2.2 billions in Rajiv's secret accounts, says Swiss magazine The shocking exposure came from Switzerland itself. The most popular magazine of Switzerland, Schweizer Illustrierte, [dated November 11, 1991] did an expose of 14 politicians of developing nations who, it said, had stashed their bribes in Swiss banks. The title of the expose in German read “Fluchgelder — Die Schweizer Konten der Dictatoren”. In English it meant, “Curse of money — The Swiss bank accounts of the Dictators”. Rajiv Gandhi figured in the expose as one with slush funds in secret accounts. Schweizer Illustrierte is not some rag. It is the Number One Swiss magazine and sells some 2,10,000 copies. Its readership is 9,18,000 — some 15 per cent of Swiss adults. The magazine had mentioned specific amounts in secret Swiss accounts of different leaders with their pictures alongside. Continued..