The official twitter account of the Congress party on Monday attacked the Modi government for another “fresh banking scam” emerging under his watch:
ताज़ा घोटाला! मोदी सरकार की नाक के नीचे खुलेआम बैंक लूट का एक और मामला उजागरhttps://t.co/EuEGcMCWAE
— Congress (@INCIndia) February 26, 2018
The party shared a Jansatta article with the comments that another fresh scam amounting to a bank loot had emerged under the watch of the Modi government, while indirectly referring to the case of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi defrauding PNB of about Rs 11,400 crores which have also landed on the Congress doorstep.
Under this “fresh scam,” it has been noted that the CBI is probing two loans drawn from the Oriental Bank of Commerce by Simbhaoli Sugars Limited, one of the largest sugar mills in the country. One of the loans of Rs. 97.85 crore was declared fraud in 2015 and the company defaulted on another loan amounting to Rs. 109 crore.
It has been alleged that these funds were diverted for personal use. The CBI, as a result, has filed a case against 13 individuals including the sugar company’s Deputy General Manager, Gurpal Singh.
So when it comes to the Congress party attacking the Modi government for this scam, a fatal flaw was noticed by people. Turns out that Gurpal Singh, who is one of the accused, is actually the son-in-law of Congress leader and current Punjab CM Amarinder Singh.
As clear from the episode, the Congress party managed to blame the Modi government for a supposed scam which was allegedly perpetrated by a close relative of their senior leader. This amused people to no end, who ended up reacting:
Dear @INCIndia please at least read the news before sharing
Bank fraud done by Son-in-law of Punjab CM Congress’ Amarinder Singh. Loan granted in 2011 during Cong rule. It was declared NPA in 2015.
This Bank loot is of the Congress, by the Congress, for the Congress. https://t.co/VrbwS2Ebe9
— Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) February 26, 2018
Massive Self Goal by Pappu led Congress.
Gurupal Singh, son-in-law of
Punjab Congress CM Amarinder Singh is booked by CBI for alleged Bank Loan fraud of 97.85 crore and default of 110 crore by Simbhaoli Sugars.Which idiot runs the Congress handle? https://t.co/P1eyDRn1c9
— Sriram (@srirambjp) February 26, 2018
Kudos to Congress for running an honest political Twitter handle, exposing their own people who swindled banks in their own term! pic.twitter.com/uQmILrL5WP
— Aashish Chandorkar (@c_aashish) February 26, 2018
One Twitter user even speculated about it being a deliberate attempt to malign Amarinder:
Is there a conflict between Rahul Gandhi & Capt Amarinder Singh. Why is the official handle of @INCIndia exposing the scam of the son in law of Capt Amarinder https://t.co/NUqWp2120X
— Masakadzas (@Nesenag) February 26, 2018
The tweet though was deleted after a while by the Congress party, and has since then has been picked up by senior BJP leader Amit Shah:
Why delete this tweet highlighting the loot of @capt_amarinder’s son-in-law. Congress has always been at the forefront of highlighting their own robberies such as the NPA mess, bad loans, the free hand they gave to Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi. #CongressLootsFarmerspic.twitter.com/b7WS3MnIfp
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) February 26, 2018
Just to remind it was only yesterday that the Congress party had angered many social media users by politicising the death of late actress Sridevi. This raises the question whether the party knowingly commits such gaffes in order to seek attention or whether in this particular case, is there some form of internal politics at play?
