CONGRESS, BJP LOCK HORNS OVER NIRAV MODI LINK
The Narendra Modi government and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday said a “full inquiry” would be conducted in the NiravModi case and none would be spared. The BJP said it found the Congress party describing Nirav Modi as “chhota Modi”, or small Modi, as “derogatory, demeaning, shameful, utterly irresponsible and scandalous”.
Senior BJP leader and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad rebutted the Congress’s allegations on the issue. The minister also threatened the Congress with releasing its leadership’s “cozy photographs” with Mehul Choksi, managing director of Gitanjali Gems and alleged business partner of Nirav Modi, but added his party “would not stoop so low”. BJP leaders and the party’s social media team insisted that the “scam” had started during the Congressled UPA’s rule, in 2011.
Earlier in the day, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala demanded accountability from the PM and termed it “independent India’s biggest bank fraud”. He said the scam could involve transactions worth over ~300 billion and over two dozen public sector banks. The Congress leader termed Nirav Modi “chhota Modi two” and former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi “chhota Modi one”.
Surjewala released a letter sent to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) by Hari Prasad SV, a Bengaluru-based citizen, on July 29, 2016. In that letter, Hari Prasad had alleged that a major financial scam, similar to those involving Vijay Mallya of the Kingfisher group, Subrata Roy of the Sahara group, and the Satyam group, had been brewing.
“Why did the PM not take any action to protect the interests of the banking sector despite a written complaint having been received and acknowledged by his office? Why were all the authorities, including the finance ministry and its financial intelligence units, sleeping on their job?” Surjewala said.
Asked about the action taken by the PMO on Hari Prasad’s warning, the law minister said it was acknowledged and what action different departments took will be conveyed later.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi likened Nirav Modi’s escape to that of Mallya’s. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, CPI(M) chief Sitaram Yechury and other opposition leaders also demanded to know how Nirav Modi was allowed to leave India, and questioned his presence in a group photograph with the PM during the latter’s visit to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) in January.
Ravi Shankar Prasad disputed that Nirav Modi was part of the PM’s delegation to the WEF. “Nirav Modi was not part of the PM Modi’s delegation at the WEF in Davos. He was part of the CII delegation. There was no meeting between Nirav Modi and the PM Modi in Davos,” Prasad said. He said necessary instructions had been issued to revoke Nirav Modi’s passport.