BJP says look who’s talking: Rahul, his family out on bail, scams from land to coal to 2G

Stating that the BJP is forced to “tell the truth about the Gandhi family”, Prasad said, “Rahul Gandhi, you are on bail, your mother is on bail and your brother-in-law is also on bail. A banker who has gone to jail sold a picture for crores to your sister. Rahul Gandhi has to reply.”

He listed the scams during the UPA regime which included the land scam allegations against Robert Vadra, Adarsh housing scheme scam, AgustaWestland helicopter scam, coal scam and the Commonwealth Games scam. He said irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation with a “pick-and-choose policy” had cost the nation a huge loss.

“Rahul Gandhi, your father had a role in the Bofors case… It has been the culture of your family to indulge in corruption and protect the corrupt… Your party government has delayed the Rafale deal because there was no deal or commission. The whole ecosystem of the Congress party is based upon the twin corrupt pillars of deal and commission. You have issues because the commission has stopped,” Prasad alleged.

He claimed that the Chinese embassy and Chinese government had “given money” to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. “Taking money from wherever possible… Rahul Gandhi, this has been your family’s culture,” he said.

In the House, Prasad, Rijiju, Meghwal and Dubey opposed Rahul’s remarks and challenged him to provide evidence to back his allegations against the Prime Minister and the government over tweaking rules to favour the Adani group.

The first objection surfaced from the treasury benches after Rahul alleged that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was behind the “imposition” of the Agniveer recruitment scheme on the armed forces. “You cannot take names like this,” members of the ruling party said.

Rahul countered it: “Why cannot we? We definitely can.”

The next flashpoint was when Rahul held up two photographs: one featuring the PM sitting with Adani in an aircraft while the other showed the PM entering an aircraft embossed with the logo of the Adani group.

Speaker Om Birla requested Rahul not to indulge in “posterbaazi”, saying doing so might invite flashing of posters featuring the “Rajasthan Chief Minister” – last year, the Adani group pledged to invest Rs 65,000 crore in Congress-ruled Rajasthan.

Prasad mounted an aggressive defence of the Prime Minister: “Rule (Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha) 353 says no allegation of defamatory or incriminatory nature shall be made unless they have given notice. Leaving that aside, he is levelling allegations against the PM without any notice, documents. This should not go on record. This is a violation of rules. And I don’t want to repeat what he is saying but these are reckless, baseless allegations.”

Law minister Rijiju said “wild allegations” cannot be made without documentary proof. “A serious discussion is taking place on the President’s speech. Whichever member participates in the discussion should speak responsibly. Such wild allegations cannot be made. And if you are levelling allegations, you have to do so with documentary proof,” he said.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Meghwal also said Rahul “must furnish proof” to substantiate his allegations. “You must authenticate, or else apologise to the nation,” he said.

Dubey raised a point of order under Rule 369, challenging Rahul to cite the norms that were allegedly tweaked by the government to favour the Adani group. “I challenge him and the Congress party to show what experience GMR, GVK, Tata, Dalmia had when those groups were issued licences. When you are making allegations on the PM, you must authenticate by showing papers,” he said.