Smriti denies daughter’s link to bar

New Delhi: Union minister Smriti Irani was under attack by the Congress on Saturday over an upmarket restaurant at Assagao in Goa. Alleging that the Union minister’s daughter, Zoish Irani, was running an "illegal bar" in Goa, the Congress demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should sack Ms Irani. While her daughter’s lawyer refuted the allegations, Ms Irani hit back at the Congress, saying she will seek answers "in the court of law and the court of people."

The Congress spokesperson, Pawan Khera, its general secretary Jairam Ramesh and the party's Goa chief Amit Patkar, made the allegations at press conferences in Delhi and Panaji, targeting Ms Irani and her daughter.

Refuting the charge, the lawyer of Ms Irani's daughter, Kirat Nagra, said his client is neither an owner nor operating the restaurant called Silly Souls Goa. He claimed that his client has not received any show cause notice from any authority, as being alleged. 

Notwithstanding, the Congress stuck to its claim and shared a copy of the show cause notice given to the bar, adding that the excise official who gave the notice is reportedly being transferred after pressure from the higher authorities.

"The licence of Smriti Irani's daughter is in the name of a person who died in May 2021, and the licence was taken in June 2022 in Goa. But the person in whose name the licence is in died 13 months ago. This is illegal," alleged Mr Khera.

He asked, "We want to ask the minister whether she had any knowledge about all these things. We have also come to know that steps are being taken to transfer the official. Is it happening without the minister's intervention?" he asked.

Incidentally, on April 14, this year, an English web news portal published an article claiming, "Smriti Irani is a proud mom as praise pours in for her daughter's Goa restaurant."

The Congress leaders took to Twitter to tweet food critic Kunal Vijayakar’s review of the restaurant.

Hitting back at the Congress, Ms Irani said that her daughter's fault is that her mother holds press conferences on "the loot of `5,000 crore by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi".

She asserted that her daughter is a first-year college student and does not run any bars. In a press conference, Ms Irani said that the Congress "assassinated" and "publicly mutilated" her daughter's character and dared the Opposition party to show proof of any wrongdoing.

Denying the allegation, the Union minister said she will seek answers "in the court of law, and the court of people" and challenged the Congress spokesperson to show the name of her daughter in the documents he flashed.

On July 21, Goa's excise commissioner, Narayan M. Gad issued a show cause to a restaurant -- Silly Souls Cafe and Bar -- on the basis of a complaint filed by a lawyer alleging, "fraudulent and fabricated documents were produced to acquire the liquor licence."