In a sharp counterattack, the BJP on Friday reminded Congress president Rahul Gandhi that he himself was out on bail in the National Herald scam and that the Punjab National Bank was pressured to sanction loan to tainted businessman Nirav Modi in 2013 a day after the Opposition party chief visited his jewellery exhibition.
"Rahul Gandhi is out on bail in the multi-crore National Herald scam. If someone were to click his picture along with me in the Parliament, would it mean that I am also an accomplice in the offence committed by himIJ Rahul's attack on the Prime Minister on the basis of a picture clicked in an official function is childish,” HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said during a Press conference at the BJP headquarters hitting out at Rahul for attacking the Prime Minister for his photo in Davos with Nirav.
The BJP continued to link Rahul with Nirav. “On September 13, 2013, Rahul Gandhi visited Nirav Modi's jewellery exhibition at a hotel in Delhi and the very next day Allahabad Bank approved the loan to him, despite the fact that it was opposed by one of the bank's directors Dinesh Dubey,” Javadekar told reporters here.
The party questioned why the Allahabad Bank approved the loan, purportedly related to Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi, though it was opposed by one of its directors, and wondered “who pressured the bank”.
“Now it is for the Congress to come clean on this fraud and make it clear what is the relationship between its chief's visit to the exhibition and sanctioning of the loan,” he said. He also suspected that the bank officials were pressured by the then UPA Government to sanction the loan.
Javadekar asserted that the fraud came to light when the current government decided to clean the entire banking system. “So, it is UPA's scam that has been brought to light by the BJP Government due to its alertness. All the non-performing assets (NPAs), the wrongful distribution of loans, amongst others, were all passed down to us by the UPA Government,” Javadekar said.
The entire banking system had failed during the UPA regime. The scam remained under the carpet between 2011 and 2014, and it came to light after the NDA Government tightened the banking norms, he added.