Rahul should take tuition from Chidambaram, govt has not waived any loan of bank defaulters: BJP

Taking a swipe at Rahul Gandhi, the BJP on Wednesday said the Congress leader should take "tuition" from his party colleague and former finance minister P Chidambaram to understand the difference between 'write-off' and 'waive-off', and asserted that the Modi government has not waived any loan of bank defaulters.

"Rahul Gandhi should take tuition from P Chidambaram on the difference between 'write-off' and 'waive-off'. The Narendra Modi government has not waived-off any loan. 'Write off' is a normal accounting process. It doesn't stop recovery or action against defaults," senior BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar said.

He said Gandhi has been trying for over two years to spread this confusion that the government has waived loans of businessmen who wilfully defaulted on bank loans.

Citing a list of top wilful bank loan defaulters given by the RBI in response to a RTI query, Gandhi had on Tuesday taken on the government, saying he was not given the answer when he had asked the same question in Parliament.

Taking a dig at the government, he said the list includes fugitive economic offenders like Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi, and many of BJP's "friends".

Hitting back, Javadekar said the Congress leader should try to expand his understanding of issues.

The government, he asserted, has gone all out to bring the accused to justice and not waived even a single penny of loan.

Nirav Modi is in jail in London and Vijay Mallya has been left with no option but to return to India after rejection of his bail plea in the UK, the BJP leader said.

Authorities have seized Nirav Modi's assets and auctioned them, he said, highlighting the action against him.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that wilful defaulters were beneficiaries of 'phone banking' under the Congress-less UPA regime and the Modi government is chasing them to recover the dues.