A Congress leader witnessed fugitive Vijay Mallya and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley having a discussion in parliament just two days before his flight to the UK, alleged Rahul Gandhi today.
"Arun Jaitley is lying, Congress leader PL Puniya witnessed his meeting with Vijay Mallya," said Rahul Gandhi after the finance minister denied Vijay Mallya's claim of meeting him before leaving for London in 2016.
"It was a 15-20 minute, sit-down meeting…The finance minister has to explain to the country why he has colluded with the criminal and why was he having a meeting with a criminal, what was discussed?", questioned Gandhi.
Puniya said , "I was in the central hall of Parliament House. I saw Jaitley and Mallya standing and talking in the corner. After 5-7 minutes, they sat on the bench and started talking. Mallya had come for the first time just to meet Jaitley" .
"It is my challenge. You can look at CCTV footage and see if I am wrong. If I am wrong, I will resign," he added.
Mallya is being investigated for fraud and money-laundering. He has been fighting India's attempt to bring him back to face trial in the UK
However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has termed the statement of fugitive industrialist Vijay Mallya as false and said he never gave appointment to Mallya since 2014.
Jaitley said. "He misused that privilege (of being an MP) on one occasion while I was walking out of the House to go to my room. He 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" .
"The finance minister talks to an absconder. He tells the minister I am going to London and the finance minister didn't even tell the CBI or police. Why not," Rahul Gandhi said.
(Featured image:NewsX)
