Amit Shah hits out at Congress over alleged financial irregularities by Vadra

BJP president Amit Shah alleged Friday that Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra made a huge amount of money through a land scam in Bikaner district, a charge refuted as baseless by the opposition party.

Shah raised the issue at an election rally in Nagaur’s district’s Kuchaman town, referring to a newspaper report.

The report said a firm got a big tax relief after it gave a loan to a company that bought land owned by Skylight Hospitality, which is allegedly linked to Vadra.

Shah also addressed a meeting in Sujangarh in Churu district and took out a roadshow in Sriganganagar district, campaigning for the BJP ahead of the December 7 assembly polls in Rajasthan.

At the rallies, he repeated that the BJP government will identify all illegal Bangladesh migrants and expel them “one by one.”

Shah alleged, “the Nehru-Gandhi family's son-in-law” had received a “commission” after a loan of “thousands of crores” was sanctioned to a big company.

He wanted an “answer” from Rahul Gandhi.

At a press conference here, BJP general secretary P Muralidhar Rao also accused Vadra of committing the “land scam” when Ashok Gehlot headed a Congress government in the state.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala refuted the allegations, saying the BJP was using the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax Department as its "dirty tricks departments".

"Neither the country nor the people of Rajasthan will get swayed by this baseless, conspiring and misleading news," Surjewala told reporters here.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Robert Vadra next week to record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), officials said Friday.

The central agency, it is understood, wants to question Vadra about the operations of Skylight Hospitality Private Limited.

Amit Shah also targeted the Congress over non-performing assets.

"The loans given through corrupt practices during the Congress government have turned into NPAs. These are not loans given by the Narendra Modi government. These are the results of the misdeeds of the Congress government," he said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party chief said fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi and liquor baron Vijay Mallya were given bank loans when the Congress was in power.

"They did not fly away abroad as they had no fear of the Congress. They believed they had a partnership. Why will those who are being protected run away?” he said.

“After the Modi government came to power, they feared being jailed," he claimed.

Asking people to vote for the party in the coming assembly election and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he said the BJP government will work to expel “intruders” from “Kanyakumari to Kashmir and Assam to Gujarat”.

Shah said people had a choice between the BJP that had “patriots” like Narendra Modi and Vasundhara Raje and the Congress which he claimed had no leadership, policies or principles.

Claiming that BJP was set to form the government again in Rajasthan, he invoked a Ramayana character. The party in the state is like “Angad’s foot” which nobody could dislodge, he said.

(With inputs from agencies.)