Congress launches attack on BJP over Mallya's claim of meeting Jaitley

Mallya, who owes Rs. 9,000 crore to banks and faces trial on different counts ranging from defaulting of loans to money siphoning, on Wednesday, claimed he met Jaitley before leaving the country.  He also claimed to have made "repeated offers" to Jaitley to "settle issues." 

Rubbishing Mallya's claims, Jaitley said he never gave an appointment to the former who once had approached the Finance Minister in the Rajya Sabha (upper house of the parliament).

In two press conferences, the Congress aimed at the BJP, Jaitley and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the matter.

Addressing media in the afternoon, Congress president Rahul Gandhi called Jaitley's statement as "false".

Rahul has been quoted by NDTV as saying, "Arun Jaitley is lying, Congress leader PL Puniya witnessed his meeting with Vijay Mallya."

"The Finance Minister has to explain to the country why he has colluded with the criminal and why was he having a meeting with a criminal, what was discussed," the Congress chief added.

Punia said he had seen Jaitley and Mallya speak at the central hall of the parliament in March 2016.

The Congress leader has been quoted by NDTV as saying, "I was in the central hall of Parliament House. I saw Jaitley and Mallya standing and talking in the corner. After 5-7 minutes, they sat on the bench and started talking. Mallya had come for the first time just to meet Jaitley."

"It is my challenge. You can look at CCTV footage and see if I am wrong. If I am wrong, I will resign."

The Congress' attack came after BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra questioned link between the Gandhi family and Mallya. "Rahul Gandhi must answer, what relation did the Gandhi family have Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines," Patra has been quoted by The Times Of India.

Following Mallya's claims, Jaitley on Wednesday took to social media to come clean on the matter.

Jaitley said on a Facebook post, "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."

An ensuing post read: "Since he was a Member of Rajya Sabha and he occasionally attended the House, he misused that privilege on one occasion, having been fully briefed about his earlier “bluff offers”, I curtly told him “there was no point talking to me and he must make offers to his bankers.” ‬

Maintaining that he never gave an appointment to Mallya, Jaitley said: "‪I did not even receive the papers that he was holding in his hand. Besides this one sentence exchange where he misused his privilege as a RS Member to further his commercial interest as a bank debtor, there is no question of my having ever given him an appointment to meet me.‬"

In an evening press conference on Thursday, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said: "The top bjp leadership is questioning Modi and Jaitley's honesty. They are questioning how Mallya fled and who helped him to fly off."

Taking a cue from Jaitley's defensive statement, BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy took a dig at the Union Finance Minister to say, "We have now two undeniable facts on the Mallya escape issue: 1. Look Out Notice was diluted on Oct 24, 2015 from “Block” to “Report” departure enabling Mallya to depart with 54 checked luggage items. 2. Mallya told FM in Central Hall of Parliament that he was leaving for London." 

Mallya made this statement to reporters outside London's Westminster Magistrates' Court, where his extradition case is being heard. 

Mallya fled India in March 2016.

The liquor baron is currently on bail on an extradition warrant since his arrest in April last year.

Mallya was arrested by Scotland Yard over a fraud case but was later granted bail by fulfilling a 650,000-pound bail bond.   

Image of Rahul Gandhi: Official Facebook page.

Image of Arun Jaitley: Official Twitter handle.