BJP slams Rahul and Priyanka over Vadra land deals

New Delhi: Dragging Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his sister and party’s general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra into alleged corruption involving land deals, the BJP on Wednesday claimed that the Opposition party has come to define “family corruption” by “institutionalising” graft.

Citing a media report, Union minister Smriti Irani said that while Robert Vadra is “merely a mask” in the controversial land deals and Mr Gandhi is the “real face”.

Dismissing the allegations, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, “Facing imminent defeat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his favourites are resorting to levelling completely baseless and fake allegations”.

Referring to the report, Mr Irani said, “The country has come to know that the brother-in-law (Rahul) is also involved with his ‘jija’ (Robert Vadra) in this family package of corruption”. She claimed that Mr Gandhi and Mrs Vadra purchased land in a deal involving H.L. Pahwa, who was raided by the Enforcement Directorate, and Mahesh Kumar Nagar, who also had a role in land transaction involving Mr Vadra.

Pahwa, she said, was lent money by C.C. Thampi who is “friends” with controversial arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

The BJP leader claimed that Mr Gandhi’s opposition to a defence deal, an apparent reference to the Rafale transaction, was due to his “financial and family” interests as he wanted a rival company to bag the contract.    The Congress president should answer about his relations with Pahwa in these land transactions, she said.