After BJP barbs, Cong defends Priyanka in painting controversy

ON MONDAY, THE CONG’S CHIEF SPOKESPERSON RANDEEP SINGH SURJEWALA ACCUSED PM AND THE MEDIA OF TRYING TO ‘DIVERT THE ATTENTION’ FROM THE BAD LOANS GIVEN BY YES BANK IN LAST 5 YRS

NEWDELHI: Sunday’s controversy over an MF Hussain painting of Rajiv Gandhi that YES Bank’s founder and former chief Rana Kapoor bought from Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for ₹2 crore refused to die down on Monday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress once again trading charges.

The controversy was heightened by a letter, purportedly written by Priyanka Gandhi, and a letter and e-mails, purportedly sent by Mumbai Congress leader Milind Deora to Kapoor, copies of which did the rounds on social media.

On Sunday, the Congress said that Priyanka Gandhi did sell the painting, but clarified that the transaction’s proceeds were mentioned in her income tax returns for that year. That clarification came after the BJP’S IT cell chief Amit Malviya said the transaction showed the link between Kapoor and the Gandhi family.

The allegations came in the background of events at YES Bank. On Friday, the government stepped in to bail out the bank. Around ₹30,000 crore of YES’S loans are below investment grade, and it has not been able to raise capital. The government superseded the board last week and investigative agencies have since launched a probe into Kapoor and his family, alleging that they issued the loans in exchange for kickbacks paid into their shell companies.

Congress leaders were not available to comment on the authenticity of the letters.

The letter, presumably written by Priyanka Gandhi, dated June 4, 2010, shows her acknowledging the receipt of the ₹2 crore payment for the portrait that Hussain had presented to Rajiv Gandhi in 1985 at the Congress party’s centenary celebrations and was in her ownership and possession.

“I trust you are aware of the historical value of this work, and will ensure its placement in an environment that befits its stature,” the letter adds.

In the letter he is supposed to have written, dated May 1, 2010, Deora asks Kapoor to directly contact Priyanka Gandhi for the purchase of the painting.

Subsequent messages are in the nature of a follow up -- ensuring that the payment is made.

On Monday, the Congress’s chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the media of trying to “divert the attention” of the country from the unprecedented loans of ₹2 lakh crore given by YES Bank in the last five years by “attempting to raise in a conspiratorial fashion” the sale of the painting 10 years ago that Priyanka Gandhi has duly disclosed the payment in her ITR. Surjewala claimed that between March 2014 and March 2019, the loan book of YES Bank went up by from ₹55,000 crore in March 2014 to ₹2.41 lakh crore in March 2019.

BJP spokesperson G V L Narasimhra Rao alleged that Priyanka Gandhi’s husband Robert Vadra is accused of using “shady methods to make windfall profits from dubious real-estate transactions”.

He said, “They offer deals to give patronage and protection to those involved in financial bungling and fraud,” he alleged.