Rahul Gandhi demands Jaitley's resignation over Mallya's claim

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday stepped up his attack on the ruling BJP over business tycoon Vijay Mallya’s exit from the country in 2016, demanding that finance minister Arun Jaitley resign over what he called was an act of “collusion” with the fugitive liquor baron.

Gandhi also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking if the finance minister allowed Mallya to escape on his own 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,” Gandhi said, just a day after Arun Jaitley denied that he had a meeting with Mallya before he fled the country in 2016.

In a statement, the minister had said that Mallya did try to start a conversation when he was on his way out of the Rajya Sabha and recalled “curtly” telling him that he should talk to the banks about his outstanding loans.

At a press conference on Thursday, Rahul Gandhi insisted that the meeting between the minister and Mallya had gone on for much longer in parliament’s central hall on 1 March.

Congress leader PL Punia, who claimed that he had witnessed the meeting, said they had initially spoken for



about 5-7 minutes in one corner of the hall and later sat down on the bench. In all, the two spoke for about 15-20 minutes.

“There are CCTV cameras, we can all see that for proof. If I am wrong, I will resign from politics,” Punia said.

“This is an open and shut case” where an economic offender talks to the minister before fleeing to London within days of this meeting, the Congress president stressed at the briefing, minutes after the BJP accused the previous UPA government of giving a “sweet deal” to the beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines to keep it afloat.

“Sometimes it seems the airline was not owned by Mallya, but by the Gandhi family in proxy,” BJP spokesman Sambit Patra said, adding that Rahul Gandhi, who is out on bail in the National Herald case, had no right to question others on corruption.

The liquor baron who founded the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, fled to the UK allegedly when a group of banks launched efforts to recover around Rs. 9,000 crore from him.

Vijay Mallya, 62, who is fighting India’s request to the UK to send him back, is wanted in India for defaulting on loans worth crores and money.

The court decision on Mallya’s extradition is expected on December 10.