Oppn parties slam govt on Mallya-Jaitley meeting, demand probe

Opposition parties Wednesday latched on to Vijay Mallya's statement he had met Arun Jaitley before leaving India, and demanded a probe into the fugitive liquor baron's claim, which was rubbished by the finance minister as "factually false".

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi should immediately order an independent probe into Mallya's "extremely serious allegations" and Jaitley should step down while the investigation is underway.

The claim made by Mallya, facing charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to Rs 9,000 crore, has triggered a political storm, with the Congress saying the government must explain how and why Mallya was allowed to leave India.

Jaitley, however, said he never gave Mallya an appointment after becoming a minister in 2014, but the liquor baron misused his position as an MP to accost him once in Parliament.

Soon after Jaitley's rebuttal, Mallya appeared to tone down the seriousness of his claim, saying it was not a "formal meeting" and he only "happened to meet" the minister, when he told him he was going to London. Mallya also said he was not "tipped off" by anyone to flee the country.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, too, described as "absolutely shocking" the revelation by Mallya and asked, "Why did the finance minister hide this information till now?"
"In spite of this, the BJP government allowed him to flee with thousands of crores debt. Do we need anymore proof that this govt. is in the pocket of crony capitalists."