The Karnataka government reportedly gave more advertisements to the Congress party’s newspaper, National Herald, than any other national daily. After this information came to light, the opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused Congress of misusing public money.
According to government records, crores of rupees were allegedly paid to National Herald from the state government’s advertising budget. According to reports, in the last two consecutive years, the government has given the maximum amount to National Herald in the advertising expenditure of national newspapers in Karnataka.
Amount of lakhs and crores revealed in figures
According to the data, the Karnataka government gave advertisements worth about Rs 1 crore 90 lakh to National Herald in the year 2023-24, whereas in the year 2024-25 this amount was Rs 99 lakh. In the year 2024-25, the Congress government of Karnataka had spent a total of Rs 1 crore 42 lakh on advertisements in national dailies, of which about 69 percent went to the account of National Herald.
Union Minister accused of giving bribe to Nehru-Gandhi
Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Prahlad Joshi on Thursday (January 8, 2026) alleged that the Congress government bribed the Nehru-Gandhi family by giving taxpayers’ money to the National Herald newspaper through government advertisements. He said that the Congress government of Karnataka has given more advertising revenue to the National Herald newspaper than any other established newspaper or magazine in the country. This is a scam in itself.
He said, ‘The so-called owners of this newspaper, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are out on bail in connection with this scam. Despite this, the Congress government of Karnataka gave Rs 2 crore in 2023-24 and Rs 1 crore in 2024-25. We don’t know how much they gave this year.
The Union Minister said, ‘This means that the Karnataka government is paying such a huge amount for the people who are trapped in scams and are on bail. This means that in a way it is bribing the fake Gandhi family.
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