Why late FM Arun Jaitley was trending on social media
Recounting in a podcast that he informed the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley before flying out of India to London in March 2016, fugitive liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya has given the Opposition one more opportunity to corner the ruling BJP and the Narendra Modi government in the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament.
When Mallya had told reporters outside a London court that was hearing arguments over his extradition to India in 2018 that he met Jaitley and “repeated my offer to settle with the banks”, the late Finance Minister rubbished the claims in a strongly worded social media post
Explaining in detail how Mallya as a member of Rajya Sabha uttered one sentence that “I am making an offer of settlement”, Jaitley wrote that the lone encounter did not last for more than a few minutes.
“Since 2014, I have never given him any appointment to meet me and the question of his having met me does not arise. However, since he was a Member of Rajya Sabha and he occasionally attended the House, he misused that privilege on one occasion while I was walking out of the House to go to my room,” Jaitley had said..
Mallya’s statement has now reignited the political debate around the issue, while giving a fresh lease of life to controversy on India’s runaway business tycoons who managed to flee despite being under investigation, the late BJP leader trend on the social media .
The Modi government has been under attack over businessmen involved in multimillion dollar scams—Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya—who managed to flee the country, allegedly because of failure of probe agencies to arrest them at the proper time.
Accused of embezzling funds from the state-owned Punjab National Bank, Choksi and nephew Nirav Modi fled India in January 2018 just days before details of the scandal broke.
Mallya claimed in the podcast with Raj Shamani that he was not aware of any action against him, being downgraded etc.
“I told FM Arun Jaitley before leaving for the airport and then I flew from Delhi to London on the way to Geneva for a meeting which was fixed months ago. I told the then finance minister because I went from Parliament to Delhi airport. When this news hit the media, once again, it created a storm.
“People went running to Mr Jaitley. He denied meeting me. A Congress MP saw us and then said to the media ‘No, I saw them together’. Mr Jaitley had to retract his statement and say ‘Yes, yes I met him but only while walking — it was a fleeting meeting,” Mallya was quoted as saying
Congress leaders were quick to take jibes at the saffron party and its government over the issue. “Foreign Minister attacks Pakistan by telling them. Bank fugitives flee the country after informing the Finance Minister. Narendra’s entire system turned out to be surrendered,” Congress leader Pawan Khera wrote on ‘X’
Jaitley, in 2016, had said: “ He (Mallya) paced up to catch up with me and while walking uttered a sentence that “I am making an offer of settlement”. Having been fully briefed about his earlier “bluff offers”, without allowing him to proceed with the conversation, I curtly told him “there was no point talking to me and he must make offers to his bankers.” I did not even receive the papers that he was holding in his hand.
“Besides this one sentence exchange where he misused his privilege as a Rajya Sabha Member, in order to further his commercial interest as a bank debtor, there is no question of my having ever given him an appointment to meet me,” Jaitley had said in his post.
