New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that the latter was bailing out the debt-ridden Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) using funds from the State Bank of India (SBI) and Life Insurance Company (LIC).
“Modi Ji, your favourite private company, ILFS is about to sink. You want to save it by using LIC money. Why? LIC is a symbol of trust in the country. People save every penny to buy an LIC policy. Why do you want to protect the fraudsters with their money? Does ILFS mean ‘I Love Financial Scams’ for you?” he tweeted.
Earlier in the day, the Congress President, while referring to the same issue, had claimed that the “chowkidaar” had been caught after the scam surfaced in the public domain.
“Lights, Camera, scam. Scene 1: 2007, CM Modi gives IL&FS the GIFT CITY project worth Rs 70,000 crore. Nowadays, there no work. The fraud has surfaced. Scene 2: 2018, PM Modi is bailing out IL&FS using Rs 91,000 crore in public funds from LIC-SBI. The chokidar is caught,” he had tweeted.
On Saturday, Maharashtra Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam had also accused the Centre of pressing SBI and LIC into bailing out IL&FS. He also alleged that the bankruptcy of the firm was due to poor corporate governance by the Centre.
Recent defaults in interest payments since August 27 have raised concerns over the firm’s financial stability. The firm has defaulted on debt payments as many as seven times between September 12 and 27. IF&LS has over Rs 91,000 crore in debt.
LIC and SBI are both stakeholders at the firm. While LIC owns 25.34 per cent stake, SBI holds 6.42 per cent stake.
[highlight_text]ANI[/highlight_text]