Cong rebuffs Irani allegations on land deals

New Delhi: The Congress hit back Wednesday at the BJP for levelling graft allegations against Rahul Gandhi and said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister Smriti Irani were making ‘completely baseless’ charges to divert attention from real issues such as ‘rampant joblessness’ and ‘agrarian crisis’.
Earlier in the day, the BJP had dragged Rahul and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra into alleged corruption involving land deals, claiming the opposition party known for ‘institutionalising’ graft has now come to define ‘family corruption’.
Responding to the allegation, Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asked if there was wrongdoing in the deals then why had the BJP not probed them in the last five years.
“The Prime Minister and his favourite Smriti Irani are resorting to levelling completely baseless and false allegations,” the Congress leader said.
“Smriti ji has got so blinded by her desire for revenge against Rahul along with her mentor Narendra Modi that she is resorting to fake and false allegations as a diversionary tactic to give cover fire to the Prime Minister. But they are never going to succeed,” he added.
Earlier in the day referring to a media report, Irani had claimed that Rahul and Priyanka purchased land in a deal involving HL Pahwa, who was raided by the ED.
Meanwhile while interacting with students in Chennai, the Congress president said that if his brother-in-law Robert Vadra can be probed then PM Narendra Modi should also face the same for his alleged role in the Rafale deal.
“I will be the first person to say it… Investigate Robert Vadra but also investigate Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Rahul said while asking the students to refer to him by his first name.