Rahul making baseless charges against Modi out of frustration: BJP
Gandhi is himself out on bail in the National Herald case of corruption, national secretary Shrikant Sharma said.
New Delhi: Hitting back at Rahul Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday said he was making untrue and baseless allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi due to his frustration over the "success" of the campaign against black money and corruption.
It said the Congress vice president was afraid that the government's ongoing action against corruption will result in expose of a number of graft cases involving his party leaders.
"Rahul Gandhi is frustrated and desperate due to success of Modi's campaign against black money and corruption. He is perhaps most hurt by demonetisation, thus levelling untrue and baseless allegations. That is why he raked up charges which the Supreme Court had refused to take note of.
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"He talks about the government not disclosing the names of people having unauthorised accounts in foreign banks. We have handed over the list to the SIT. Disclosing names will only help the suspects as our government then will not get help from these countries. This is what he wants," BJP National Secretary Shrikant Sharma said.
He noted that former Union Minister Preneet Kaur's names had cropped up in one such list of foreign account holders.
She has maintained that she never had such an account. Gandhi is himself out on bail in the National Herald case of corruption, he said, claiming that industry groups run by Adani brothers and Anil Ambani had run up debt of Rs 72 thousand crore and Rs 1.13 lakh crore respectively during the UPA government.
"UPA government had waived off debts running into over Rs 36 lakh crore to corporate groups. Out government is working to recover their debts," he said, responding to the charge that the Modi government was "pro-rich and pro-corporate".
Addressing a public rally in Baran in Rajasthan, Gandhi alleged that the note ban decision "is not against corruption but is an economic lockdown. It is not against black money but against the poor, farmers, labourers and women".
"In the last two-and-a-half years, Modi only worked to create a divide in the country and functioned only for the rich," he alleged.