Congress President Rahul Gandhi, in a press conference on Thursday, has accused Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of having ‘struck a deal’ with the fugitive tycoon Vijay Mallya, to help him flee India. He alleged that there was a ‘clear-cut case of collusion’ between absconder Vijay Mallya and Jaitley and demanded that the latter resign and face an investigation.
This is a clear-cut case of collusion. There is some deal between them. FM @arunjaitley must resign and this should be investigated: Congress President @RahulGandhi#ArunJaitleyStepDown
— Congress (@INCIndia) September 13, 2018
Rahul Gandhi has also claimed that Arun Jaitley was informed by Mallya about ‘fleeing the country’ and questioned why was the CBI or ED informed.
The absconder informed Finance Minister about fleeing the country. Why wasn’t this notified to CBI or ED?: Congress President @RahulGandhi#ArunJaitleyStepDown
— Congress (@INCIndia) September 13, 2018
It is pertinent to mention that Arun Jaitley, in a statement on social media, has stated that Vijay Mallya’s claim that he met him and offered him a settlement is false. He said, “The statement of Vijay Mallaya that he met me & offered settlement is factually false in as much as it does not reflect truth. Since 2014, I have never given him any appointment to meet me and the question of his having met me does not arise.”
Arun Jaitley did admit that Vijay Mallya abused his privilege as a Rajya Sabha member and approached him. However, he replied, “there was no point talking to me and he must make offers to his bankers.” But he reiterated that he had never given an appointment to Vijay Mallya.
We have reported that Vijay Mallya has stated that he has made ‘a comprehensive settlement’ offer before the Karnataka High Court and hoped that the judges would consider it favourably. However, he gave no details of this settlement offer.
