New Delhi, Sep 20: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of spreading lies on Rafale deal and Non-Performing Assets. Calling Rahul Gandhi a 'clown prince', Jaitley in a Facebook post said every word of that sentence repeatedly uttered by the Congress leader is 'false'. Jaitley also said that Gandhi lied about waiving of loans to industrialists.

"If the ‘Rafale concoctions’ were the first big lie, the second one stated repeatedly is that Mr. Modi waived off rupees two lakh fifty thousand crores of fifteen industrialists. Every word of that sentence repeatedly uttered by Rahul Gandhi is false," Jaitley wrote in his Facebook post. The minister further accused the Congress-led previous UPA government of turning a blind eye towards rising NPAs. Dictatorship Has Become a Profession Under Modi Government, Says Rahul Gandhi Over Lathi-charge on Congress Workers'.

"The truth is that actually NPA s were hidden under the carpet....No effective steps were taken which could result in recovery/ reduction of the NPAs. Post 2014-15, NPAs increased not because more monies were lent but because interest was mounting up on the overdue amounts. Some of the defaulters were given a second restructuring so that the defaults could continue to be hidden," Jaitley alleged.

The minister said it was the Modi government that brought the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) which resulted in discharge of a significant amount of debt which is paid to the banks and other creditors. "It changed the debtor-creditor relationship and enabled the banks to effectively pursue the recovery," Jaitley said. Rahul Gandhi Takes Dig At Arun Jaitley For Meeting Vijay Mallya; Says, 'Finance Minister Colluded In A Criminal Running From Country.

"The Reserve Bank of India, in the first instalment, identified twelve major defaulters. These twelve defaulters, towards principal interest and penal interest, jointly owed about rupees three lakh crores to various banks. The banks under UPA took no steps to recover these loans. They did not prosecute a single major debtor who had siphoned off money," the minister claimed.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 20, 2018 03:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).