New Delhi [India]: The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on Saturday questioned Congress president Rahul Gandhi about his source of income while alleging that his assets have grown from Rs 55,38,123 in 2004 to Rs 9 crore in 2014.
“In 2004, Rahul declared in election affidavit that his income is Rs 55,38,123. This became 2 crore rupees in 2009 and 9 crores in 2014 elections. Rahul Gandhi, please tell us what is this model of development? What is the ostensible source of income that from a mere Rs 55.38 lakh in 2004, your asset grew to Rs 9 crore in 2014?” Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said while addressing a press conference here.
“BJP would like to know, what were those factors which led to an extraordinary jump in Rahul’s income from mere 55 lakhs to 9 crore?” the Union Minister added.
Taking a jibe at the Gandhi family, Prasad said, “There is a lot of discussion on development. We have seen a Vadra model of development where you invest 6-7 lakhs and become the owner of 700-800 crore in two-three years. Now, we are also seeing a Rahul model of development. Rahul is an MP and his source of income is the salary of a parliamentarian. There is no other visible source of income from him.”
Prasad further alleged that Rahul has bought two properties from Unitech, a company whose promoters have been jailed in connection to the 2G scam.
Terming the judgment of a trial court as “legally unsound” and “morally improper”, Prasad said, “Judge commented that I (judge) was waiting for evidence from seven-eight years but no evidence was presented to him. Is there a connection between this property purchase and no evidence (presented before the court)?” Prasad posed the question to Rahul while saying that his party would like the Congres president to deny it.
Prasad also claimed that most of the trials in 2G case happened before the NDA government came to power.
The Union Minister even levelled allegations against Rahul’s sister and the eastern UP general secretary of the Congress, Priyanka Gandhi.
“Rahul and Priyanka own a 4.5-acre farmhouse which they had rented to Financial Technologies of India, the same company which was issued show cause notice in the case related to National Spot Exchange Limited. NSEL was promoted by Financial Technologies of India. FTIL issued an interest-free cheque of Rs 40 lakh,” Prasad alleged.
Denying the charges levelled against senior BJP leaders, Prasad said, “Yesterday, we had exposed them about the fake diary related to BS Yeddyurappa which was given by Congress leader DK Shivkumar himself during an Income Tax raid. He (Shivkumar) could not prove it and later said that I don’t possess the originals of these documents”.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]