New Delhi: Seeking to take the corruption and alleged crony capitalism battle into the Congress camp, the BJP on Monday evening fielded Union Minister Smriti Irani, who charged Congress of being "sultanate of corruption". "The Congress party's recent aggression against Mr Jay Shah are clearly off track. Mr Jay Shah’s business is perfectly legitimate and legal. TDS is paid, loans are repaid and company closed after losses. Does this reek of cronyism?" Ms Irani said in a statement.
She also said, "Instead of seeking answers on 80 crores of transactions that are within the purview of the law, it would be more prudent for the Congress to give an account for the more than 80 scams and the Rs, 1,80,000 crore that India has lost due to corruption and cronyism of successive Congress governments".
Ms Irani, who contested against Rahul Gandhi in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, also alleged that: "The Nehru-Gandhi family, which was pressuring banks to give loans to Vijay Mallya in return of airline upgrades is now questioning others".
She also counseled Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi that, "Instead of engaging in political activity, Rahul Gandhi should devote time to Amethi, his Lok Sabha seat which needs immediate attention and more development works. The people of Amethi are asking for ‘Vikas’ even as the local MP goes around the nation mocking ‘Vikas’ and insulting the poor of India".
Ms Irani accused the Congress leadership of attempting to divert attention "from their own scams and misdeeds." Uttar Pradesh minister and BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh took dig at Rahul Gandhi, saying "this leader fails to come out of his diaper as he does not even pay attention to the fact that the company he is referring to had closed before demonetisation". Mr Singh's reference was to a tweet from Rahul Gandhi wherein the Congress leader suggested that post-demonetisation development had helped BJP chief Amit Shah's son Jay Shah.
The Congress during the day remained offensive with Rahul Gandhi himself leading the attack in Gujarat during his tour of the poll-bound western Indian state. In Delhi, Anand Sharma demanded that Amit Shah should quit as party chief. Other Congress leaders also attacked BJP.
Delhi Congress leaders would stage a protest march in the capital tomorrow. (UNI)