New Delhi, September 13: A day after, economic offender Vijay Mallya claimed that he had a meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley before leaving for London, Congress president Rahul Gandhi questioned the motive of the meeting. In a press conference, Gandhi launched a fresh salvo at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jaitley. He accused the finance minister of colluding in a criminal running away from the country.

Gandhi said, “Vijay Mallya said yesterday that he met Arun Jaitley ji in the Parliament before leaving. Arun Jaitley writes blogs on all meetings, but I don't know why there was no blog by him on this meeting. He said that he spoke only a few words to him Mallya, which is a lie. The Congress president also blamed the prime minister of helping the liquor baron to escape the country. The Congress president added, “Finance Minister talks to an absconder, absconder tells him that he going to London. Finance Minister doesn't tell CBI, ED or police. Why? The arrest notice was changed to informed notice. This can be done only by the one who controls CBI.”

Press briefing of Rahul Gandhi:

During the press conference, Gandhi also alleged that the Modi government was lying on the Mallya issue like they did in Rafale deal. He said, Mallya. He was given a free passage out of the country by the Finance Minister.” Yesterday, Mallya stoked a political controversy by saying he had met finance minister Arun Jaitley before taking a flight to London in March 2016. However, Jaitley refuted Mallya’s claims. Mallya is accused of defaulting on loans of Indian banks to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore (approx).

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 13, 2018 01:50 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).