Mehul Choksi enjoyed Rahul's patronage, claims BJP

The BJP on Tuesday said that the Gitanjali Group's Mehul Choksi, who is an accused in the multi-crore PNB fraud case, enjoyed the "patronage" of Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

"Choksi enjoyed the patronage, strength and support of Rahul in the party," Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman G.V.L. Narsimha Rao said while addressing a press conference here.

Rao alleged that it was the reason why H.S. Chandramauli, who represented Choksi in a criminal case in 2015, was given a legislator ticket from the Madikeri constituency for the Karnataka Assembly election next month.

The BJP leader said the 2015 criminal case against Choksi was later converted into a civil case, reports IANS.

Rao also said that Chandramauli had been a legal consultant to Karnataka minister K.J. George in the DSP M.K. Ganapathi suicide case.

Slamming the Congress's connection with Choksi, the BJP leader said: "First Rahul had promoted Choksi's Gitanjali Jewellery in 2013.

"Then in 2013, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had removed the Director of the Allahabad Bank for denying to restructure a loan of Rs 1,550 crore to Choksi when he highlighted the lacunae in it.

The BJP leader also described Choksi as the third Robert Vadra of the Congress and said: "Choksi is third sonin-law of Congress after Vadra and Vijay Mallya."