Bengaluru (PTI): Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday termed the ED charge sheet against Robert Vadra as an attempt to bring bad name to him and the Gandhi family, and to target the Congress party.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday filed a charge sheet against Robert Vadra, the businessman husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in a land deal in Haryana's Shikohpur.

"What has been done to Vadra, is to take revenge on a person, to target a party, they are doing all this. It is done as part of an attempt to bring a bad name to the Vadra and Gandhi family. They will never be successful in it. There are courts," Kharge told reporters here.

"The trouble that is being given to Vadra is not right. We all support his good work."

Responding to a question on BJP accusing Congress of supporting "land jihad", the Congress chief said, "I don't know what land jihad is. If they want to take any action against me, welcome, let them take it. Whenever they take action, I will then respond to it."

 

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Mumbai (PTI): The rupee slipped by 1 paisa to 90.67 against the US dollar in the early session on Monday amid FII outflows and a stronger greenback.

A marginal rise in global crude oil prices and a sharp decline in the country's forex reserves also weighed on the local unit, according to forex traders.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened higher at 90.63 before falling to 90.67 against the US dollar, down 1 paisa from its previous close.

The rupee consolidated in a narrow range and settled 5 paise lower at 90.66 against the US dollar on Friday.

"The rupee opened slightly stronger from Friday close and should remain in a small range on a day when cash demand will be lower due to US Presidential Day holiday," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.

Markets will watch out for India's trade balance figures, which could be released by the commerce ministry on Monday, he said.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.02 per cent higher at 96.93.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.04 per cent higher at USD 67.78 per barrel in futures trade.

At the domestic equity markets, Sensex declined 71.53 points to 82,555.23 in early trade while Nifty was down 11.95 points to 25,459.15.

On Friday, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 7,395.41 crore, according to exchange data.

Reserve Bank data released on Friday showed India's forex reserves were down USD 6.711 billion to USD 717.064 billion during the week ended February 6. In the previous reporting week, the kitty had jumped by USD 14.361 billion to an all-time high of USD 723.774 billion.