Jaitley colluding with ‘criminal’: Rahul
New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday stepped up his attack on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over his reported meeting with Vijay Mallya before the latter fled to the UK. Rahul accused the finance minister of colluding with a “criminal” and not informing the probe agencies, despite having information about the liquor baron’s plan to leave the country.
Rahul also trained his guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He asked: “Why did Jaitley allow Mallya to escape, or was it an order from the prime minister.”
“This is a clear-cut case of collusion. There is some deal between them. Finance Minister Jaitley must resign and this should be investigated,” he said.
Senior Congress leader PL Punia said March 1, 2016, when he was in the Central Hall of Parliament, he had seen Jaitley and Mallya talking “discreetly”.
“On March 3, we heard from the media that he (Mallya) fled the country on March 2. . . There are CCTV cameras; we can all see that for proof. If I am wrong, I will resign from politics,” Punia said.
He added that the meeting between Jaitley and Mallya lasted 15-20 minutes. Rahul wondered that when the “absconder” had informed the finance minister about leaving the country, why had he not notified the CBI or the Enforcement Directorate about the matter.
UPA gave sweet deal to Kingfisher: BJP
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday alleged that the previous UPA government had given a “sweet deal” to the beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines to keep it afloat and suggested that the airline was perhaps owned by the Gandhi family. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra, showing a purported confessional statement of a hawala trader, alleged that the Congress chief had links with a shell company.
He claimed that Rahul Gandhi was on the back foot in the case of Kingfisher Airlines and that its promoter Vijay Mallya and the entire Gandhi family travelled on the airline’s business class for free.
“The entire Gandhi family was in fact helping Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines with the sweet deal,” Patra said, showing documents he claimed pertained to loans given to the airline.
“There is a series of letters between the RBI and the SBI. These letters show us how the previous dispensation under Sonia Gandhi was biased, partial and kept all norms and regulations at bay to give a sweet deal to Kingfisher Airlines,” he alleged.
The BJP leader was responding to Rahul’s demand for a probe into Mallya’s claim that he had met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley before leaving India.
“Sometimes it seems the airline was not owned by Mallya, but by the Gandhi family by proxy,” Patra said, and added that Rahul, who himself is out on bail in the National Herald case, had no right to question others on corruption.
The war of words was triggered after Mallya stated Wednesday that he had met Jaitley before he left for the UK.