Rebel Congress leader Shehzad Poonawalla on Thursday claimed that Congress chief Rahul Gandhi attended a cocktail party organised by fugitive businessman Nirav Modi.
"I can vouch @RahulGandhi was at Nirav Modi's cocktail party in Sep2013 at Imperial Hotel Delhi! While cocktails were had loans were cleared for Mama Bhanja despite red flag by likes of Dinesh Dubey Ex Dir of Allahabad Bank! Will Rahul Gandhi clarify on Maal-liya #Mallya or not," he tweeted.
He challenged Rahul Gandhi to deny having attended the party. "Open challenge to Rahul Gandhi to deny he met Nirav Modi in Sep 2013 cocktail party -11th Sep if my memory serves me right! Imperial Hotel- Rahul spent a long time!Same period when loans given to Mehul Choksi & Nirav Modi!! SPG May hv records or let's undergo lie detector test," he said.
I can vouch @RahulGandhi was at Nirav Modi's cocktail party in Sep2013 at Imperial Hotel Delhi! While cocktails were had loans were cleared for Mama Bhanja despite red flag by likes of Dinesh Dubey Ex Dir of Allahabad Bank! Will Rahul Gandhi clarify on Maal-liya #Mallya or not! https://t.co/MEx6AByQPm
— Shehzad Jai Hind (@Shehzad_Ind) September 13, 2018
"If PL Punia is proof of @arunjaitley meeting Vijay Mallya (and accosting = meeting) I can swear on Quran & undertake lie detector @RahulGandhi attended Nirav Modi cocktail party & Bridal wear prog at Imperial Hotel Delhi in Sep2013 while loans were wrongly given to Mama Bhanja," he said.
He made the remarks after senior Congress leader PL Punia said that he was witness of a meeting between Mallya and Jaitley in Parliament during 2016 Budget session. He claimed that the meeting appeared to have been of a formal nature and lasted 15-20 minutes.
Jaitley had denied meeting the embattled liquor baron after the latter said that he had met the senior BJP leader before leaving India in 2014.
Refuting the charges made by Mallya as "factually false," Jaitley claimed, ''The statement is factually false in as much as it does not reflect the truth. Since 2014, I've never given him any appointment to meet me and the question of his having met me does not arise.''
FM Jaitley also accused Mallya of ''misusing'' his stature as the Rajya Sabha MP. ''Vijay Mallya "misused" privilege of being Rajya Sabha MP to catch me in the corridors of Parliament on one occasion while he was walking out of the House to go to his room, '' the Finance Minister said.
He said Mallya, while walking alongside, "uttered a sentence that 'I am making an offer of settlement'. Having been fully aware of his 'bluff offers', without allowing him to proceed with the conversation, I curtly told him 'there was no point in talking to me and he must make offers to the bankers.'"
"I did not even receive the papers he was holding in his hand," Jaitley claimed.
The 62-year-old former Kingfisher Airline boss said he met the Finance Minister before he left. "I repeated my offer to settle with the banks. That is the truth," he had said without naming the minister.
