Rahul's family partially owned Kingfisher Airlines through proxy, says BJP; Congress rejects allegations

The BJP on Thursday alleged that the UPA government gave "sweet deals" to fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, while claiming that Congress President Rahul Gandhi's family "partially owned the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines through proxy".

Rejecting BJP's allegations, the Congress said "malicious knowledge was very dangerous" and asked Modi government whether extending a loan was a crime or running away after defaulting the money was a crime.

Congress also asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley didn't arrest Vijay Mallya when there was a default in loans.

"There are documents that show how the RBI and UPA under Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh had given sweet deals to Kingfisher Airlines," BJP leader Sambit Patra told the media.

"And it appears through these chain of documents that Kingfisher Airlines was owned not by Mallya but by the Gandhi family through proxy," he alleged showing the letters written by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to the State Bank of India (SBI) requesting restructuring of the loans of Kingfisher Airline

The accuracy of the documents could not be ascertained. There was no immediate response from Rahul Gandhi's office.

The BJP leader's remarks came in the wake of Rahul Gandhi demanding resignation of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while referring to the statement of Mallya alleging that he met the BJP leader before leaving the country.

Patra also alleged that the party has enough evidence which shows that Rahul Gandhi was "using black money" and the Gandhi family was helping Mallya with sweet deals.

He said that Rahul Gandhi travelled free in Kingfisher Airlines, which was once owned by Mallya.

"Rahul Gandhi took one crore loan from a shell company, we have the confession of the company director Umashankar Gupta," Patra said.

The BJP leader also demanded that the Congress President "clear the air over his family's relations" with Mallya.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, meanwhile, said: "If extending loan is a crime then everybody who has taken loan in this country should be put behind bars. Extending of loan was not a crime last when I checked. "

"Only when you default on that loan, refuse to pay it and then run away from India and that also with active protection of the government and support of the government that is a crime," he added.

Surjewala also said: "That's why Modiji and Finance Minister (Arun Jaitley) need to answer when there was a default in the loan, when an FIR had been lodged in July 2015, when 17 banks were asked to move against Mallya for confiscation of passport on February 28, 2016 why was he not arrested."

--IANS

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