BJP Raises Priyanka’s ‘Link’ to Yes Bank Founder, Cong Hits Back

“Every financial crime in India has deep link with the Gandhis,” tweeted BJP’s Amit Malviya.

(Photo: PTI/Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

A war of words broke out between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress on Sunday, 8 March, over the Yes Bank crisis with the ruling party seeking to link it with the Gandhi family, while the Opposition wondered if the prime minister and finance minister were "complicit" as the bank’s loan book grew manifold.

Posting on Twitter a clip of a news channel report that Rana Kapoor, the arrested Yes Bank founder, had bought a painting from Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, BJP's information and technology wing in-charge Amit Malviya alleged that every financial crime in India has "deep links" with the Gandhis.

The Congress dismissed the charge "fake" and called it a "diversionary" tactic.

It said Priyanka Gandhi had sold an MF Husain painting of her father Rajiv Gandhi to Kapoor for Rs 2 crore, and the entire amount was disclosed in her income tax return of 2010.

Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asked how does an MF Husain painting of Rajiv Gandhi sold 10 years ago by Priyanka Gandhi to Yes Bank owner Rana Kapoor and disclosed in her tax returns connect with the unprecedented giving of loans of Rs 2 lakh crore in five years of the Modi government.

"More so, when (Kapoor's) proximity to BJP leaders is well known," he said.

Rubbishing the BJP's allegation, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, at a press conference, said it was a "diversionary" tactic by the government.

He noted that the bank's loan book rose from Rs 55,633 crore in March 2014, the year Narendra Modi became prime minister, to Rs 2,41,499 crore in March 2019.

“Why did the loan book rise by 100 percent in two years after demonetisation, that is, from Rs 98,210 cr in March 2016 to Rs 2,03,534 ar in March 2018? Were PM and FM sleeping, ignorant or complicit?”

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi

The entire amount Priyanka Gandhi had received was by way of a cheque and was fully disclosed in her income tax return, Singhvi said.

‘Why Did Loans Given to Yes Bank Rise by 100% in 2 Years After Demonetisation?’

Taking to Twitter, Surjewala said:

Why did the loans given by Yes Bank rise by a whopping 100 percent in just two years after demonetisation, he asked.

Surjewala also questioned why the prime minister addressed a conference sponsored by Yes Bank on 6 March despite the RBI moratorium.

Kapoor, 62, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai after charges of alleged financial irregularities and mismanagement in the bank's operations surfaced, and the RBI and Union government initiated action to control its affairs.