Robert Vadra, husband of Priyanka Gandhi and accused in multiple scams, participated in Rahul Gandhi’s roadshow in Amethi as the Congress President filed his nomination papers from the constituency.
Congress President @RahulGandhi to file his nomination in Amethi today.#AmethiKaRahulGandhi pic.twitter.com/YY7aLKKbhm
— Congress (@INCIndia) April 10, 2019
The ‘Damaad’ of the Congress party finds himself in the eye of a storm currently. Recently, the Enforcement Directorate had said that it has established that Robert Vadra is linked with the bribe of Rs. 300 crore paid by Swiss aerospace company Pilatus to influence the Rs.2900 crore deal for basic trainer aircraft.
In February, Vadra was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with money laundering case and dubious land deal cases. He had applied for anticipatory bail in the court earlier this after a fresh money laundering case was filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The case was filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Skylight Hospitality firm owned by Vadra.
It has been alleged that Robert Vadra has close links with arms dealers. One of his close associates, Sanjay Bhandari had tried to partner with Dassault Aviation. But Dassault had refused his offer after learning about Bhandari’s association with Vadra.
The Enforcement Directorate had also summoned Congress leader Jagdish Sharma, a self-proclaimed ‘chela’ (disciple) of Robert Vadra in connection with an investigation under PMLA. In December 2018, the Enforcement Directorate had conducted raids at Vadra’s offices along with other locations related to Jagdish Sharma.
Meanwhile, the agency has kept a tight noose on the ‘Damaad’ in the case where allegations of money laundering were leveled against him in the purchase of a London-based benami property at 12, Bryanston Square worth 1.9 million pounds. The property is allegedly owned by him.
In February, a special CBI court had refused to stay Robert Vadra’s interrogation and asked him to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the ongoing money laundering probe. Similarly, earlier last month, the ED had attached the assets of Robert Vadra’s company, M/s Sky Light Hospitality (P) Ltd worth Rs 4.62 crore.
Thus, under such circumstances, the Congress’ overt support for Vadra at a time when he is under investigation from agencies in multiple scam cases, appears to be an attempt to shield him and cry political vendetta should Vadra suffer any consequences for his alleged crimes. It is pertinent to mention here that Rahul Gandhi himself is out-on-bail in the National Herald scam.
As Rahul Gandhi hops around with multiple scam-accused Robert Vadra, he claims that Prime Minister Modi is ‘scared’ of debating him on corruption.
Dear PM,
Scared of debating me on corruption? I can make it easier for you.
Let’s go open book, so you can prepare:
1. RAFALE+Anil Ambani
2. Nirav Modi
3. Amit Shah+Demonetisation #Scared2Debate— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 9, 2019
The ‘Rafale+Ambani’ matter, as Rahul Gandhi calls it, is, in reality, a dud. He has been repeating his lie that the Modi government gave Rs. 30,000 crore to Anil Ambani over the deal, at times he has even claimed that Narendra Modi snatched money from Badminton Courts and gave it to Ambani, without a shred of evidence.
In reality, the total offset obligation of all the foreign suppliers in the Rafale deal is around ₹29,000 crore, and Anil Ambani’s company has got a tiny portion of that offset business. Dassault Aviation has set up a 51:49 joint venture with Reliance Defence for manufacturing parts for Falcon civilian jet, and the total investment in that venture is ₹800 crore. Which means the investment of Dassault in that venture is less than ₹400 crore. Majority of offset business will go to public sector companies in the defence sector, including DRDO.
While Rahul Gandhi blames Narendra Modi for Nirav Modi’s alleged crimes, the Rs 11,000 crores financial scam had started under the Congress government itself in 2011. Moreover, it has been reported that former Finance secretary Rajiv Takru, working under the erstwhile UPA government had tried to “silence” the PNB whistleblower in 2013. It was the same time that Shehzad Poonawalla, the rebel Congress leader claimed that Rahul Gandhi himself had met Nirav Modi. Besides this, it has been alleged that Finance Minister P Chidambaram himself had signed the whistleblower’s termination letter.
In fact, it was also reported that an unnamed Congress leader was involved in cash deals with Nirav Modi’s stores during the demonetisation period, raising question over the suspicious nature of these transactions and a link between Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Nirav Modi had also emerged.
The ‘Amit Shah+Demonetization’ remark is most probably directed towards the baseless allegations hurled by the Congress party against Amit Shah because a bank he happens to be a director of attracted deposits during Demonetization. We have comprehensively debunked that piece of propaganda here.
Intriguingly enough, Congress general secretary in charge of Western Uttar Pradesh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, was reportedly not present in the bus while Robert Vadra found himself a special spot beside Rahul Gandhi.
Cong general secretary in charge of Western Uttar Pradesh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, not on bus. Vadras are on bus. #Amethi pic.twitter.com/ogji9Psh2K
— Smita Prakash (@smitaprakash) April 10, 2019
The absence of Jyotiraditya Scindia on the bus during the roadshow has attracted many comments on social media regarding the blatant nepotism promoted and endorsed by the Gandhi-Vadra family while ignoring hardworking party leaders.
