‘Rahul quick to hug PM, but runs away from IT officer’
NEW DELHI: Tearing into Congress president Rahul Gandhi for challenging the IT department’s decision to reopen his 2011-12 tax assessments, Union minister Smriti Irani Tuesday said he was quick to hug Prime Minister Narendra Modi but would run a mile from an income tax officer.
Rahul Gandhi needs to answer many questions; the minister said, a day after the Delhi High Court dismissed the pleas filed by him and his mother, UPA chief Sonia Gandhi, against the decision to reopen their tax assessments in connection with a case related to the National Herald newspaper.
Their appeals in the court “reveal deep-seated corruption in the hallowed halls of the Congress party”, Irani said at a press conference in the BJP office. No Indian can defy an income tax notice but Rahul Gandhi runs miles from income tax officers, she said.
“Why is it that Rahul Gandhi, who is too quick to hug the prime minister, would run a mile when it comes to an Income Tax officer,” Irani asked, referring to the Congress president hugging Modi in the Lok Sabha during the no-confidence debate in July.
Discussing former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan’s submission to the Estimates Committee over mounting NPAS (non-performing assets), Irani said his statement clearly proves it is the Congress which is responsible for increased NPA.
“UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi led a government that attacked the very core of the Indian banking system. Raghuram Rajan has said that between 2006-08, the UPA functioning led to increased NPAS in the Indian banking structure,” she said.
Irani termed Rajan’s report a “loud proclamation” of corruption done by Congress.