Sahara, Birla Payments Are Rahul Gandhi’s Exposé Against Modi

The entire north Gujarat belt has a sizeable Patel population, which held violent protests against BJP.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi. (Photo: The Quint)

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• Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi claimed Sahara and Birla Group made 9 payments to Narendra Modi between 2013 and 2014.
  
• The payments, he claimed, were made while Modi was Chief Minister of Gujarat.
  
• Gandhi played the allegations up while addressing a rally in Mehsana, Gujarat.
  
• BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad condemned Rahul Gandhi’s allegations against “pure as Ganga” Modi.
  
• Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala demanded impartial probe into the matter.
  

Updated at:21st Dec, 2016 at 9:09 PM

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi at his rally in Mehsana, Gujarat, claimed that the Income Tax department has access to Sahara Group’s ‘diary’, which contains records of nine payments made by the group to Narendra Modi over six months during his tenure as chief minister of Gujarat.

Rahul Gandhi cited the following entries:

Updated at:21st Dec, 2016 at 8:59 PM

(Infographic: Lijumol Joseph/The Quint)

Updated at:21st Dec, 2016 at 5:55 PM

He also claimed that the Birla Group has a similar record of money being paid to Modi while he was Gujarat’s chief minister.

Updated at:21st Dec, 2016 at 9:21 PM

Opposition Demands Probe Into Rahul Gandhi’s Allegations

Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), took to Twitter to voice his concern after Rahul Gandhi leveled corruption allegations against Modi.

D Raja, CPI national secretary said, “It's a case which deserves high-level probe so that people get to know the truth”.

<i>Hum maang karte hai ki Rahul Gandhiji ne jo aarop lagaye hai uspe PM khud apni baat ko spasht karein ki kya tathya hai ismei. </i>(We demand that the PM clarify if Rahul Gandhi’s allegations are based on proof.) This is a serious issue. SC-monitored enquiry must immediately be conducted&nbsp;

Lalu Prasad Yadav, RJD Chief&nbsp;

Updated at:21st Dec, 2016 at 9:35 PM

Congress Demands Impartial Investigation

After Ravi Shankar Prasad likened Narendra Modi to river Ganga, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that the river Ganga is dirty and needs cleaning. He said:

The credibility, honesty and integrity of PM Modi is at stake. We (the Congress) have great respect for PM Modi. PM Modi must come forward and say whether or not he took money from the Sahara and Birla Groups.

Surjewala claimed that Rs 25 crore was recovered in an income tax raid on the Birla Group’s office on 15 October 2013. A laptop was also recovered in the raid, Surjewala claimed. The laptop, he said, had an email which read:

“Gujarat CM, 25 crore, 12 done, rest?”

He sought an unbiased investigation into the allegations made against Modi as the CBI, he said, has never even questioned Modi in this matter.

Surjewala said that Rahul Gandhi was only asking whether Modi took the money or not. This, he said, is no reason for the BJP to use foul language.

Updated at:21st Dec, 2016 at 8:59 PM

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BJP Hammers Gandhi on AgustaWestland, National Herald, and Electoral Failure

Invoking various scams including the AgustaWestland scam, coal scams, the National Herald case, and Congress’ electoral failure in his defence of the BJP, Ravi Shankar Prasad said that that the Congress party did not spare “the sky, space, land, under the land or even the sea” in their corruption.

Rahul Gandhi is leading his party to disastrous defeat. Now they don’t even think his party is capable enough to run municipalities.&nbsp;

“The whole history of Congress stinks with corruption,” Prasad said, adding, “I condemn the irresponsible, shameful, baseless allegations of Rahul Gandhi with all the contempt it deserves.”

Prasad claimed that the Supreme Court has observed thrice that there is no proof supporting allegations in the Sahara case against Modi.

When asked about the claims made by Rahul Gandhi at his Mehsana rally, Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Home Affairs, dismissed them completely:

<i>Rahul Gandhi ji ki baaton ko kyun seriously lete hain? Congress wale bhi unki baaton ko serious nahi lete. </i>(Why are you taking Rahul Gandhi’s words seriously? Even Congress does not take him seriously.)

Updated at:21st Dec, 2016 at 6:46 PM

PM Modi Keeps Changing Demonetisation Narrative: Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi is addressing a rally in the Patidar-dense region of Mehsana in Gujarat. He attacked the government strongly over demonetisation, besides violence against people of the Dalit and Patidar community, NREGA and tribals’ issues.

Gandhi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to sell demonetisation as a measure against black money; when that failed, tried to present it as an anti-terrorism measure, and when terrorists were found in possession of the new notes, Modi turned towards a “cashless economy” narrative.

Also Read: Kanpur vs Jaunpur: Rahul Says PM ‘Fire Bombed’ Poor With Note Ban

Updated at:21st Dec, 2016 at 6:46 PM

These are the highlights of his speech.

• Congress will stand with Narendra Modi if he takes even a small step against corruption. However, demonetisation is a decision against the poor, hard-working people of India.
• For the past 1.5 years, the Modi givernment has been meting out torture for the working class of the country.
• The poor had only asked for three things: loan waiver, halved electricity bill, and right price for grains and vegetables.
• We brought the Land Acquisition Bill, Modiji tried to kill the bill thrice through ordinance.
• The government shoots dead the tribals who try to protect his water, land and forests.
• He also snatched NREGA from the farmers. The government mauled Dalits in Gujarat, they are scared of the people.
• The Patidar community held peaceful protests, and the government killed your women and your children with lathis and gunshots.
• The government runs for and serves a select 15-20 people.
• All cash is not black and all black money is not in cash.
• Modi introduced a new concept called “surgical strike on black money”, which did not target the 94 percent of black money with the 50 richest families, but the 6 percent of it that lies with over 90 percent of the country’s population.
• Demonetisation is like the practice of fire-bombing used in World War 2.
• Modiji, you snatched the daily wage labourers’ money, which comes only in cash, and burnt it.
• The Modi government shut down construction, textile, powerloom, diamond, and transport industries with demonetisation.

Updated at:21st Dec, 2016 at 6:46 PM

Rahul Gandhi Woos Patidar Community

Rahul Gandhi will be addressing a public rally in the Mehsana region of Gujarat on Wednesday. He offered prayers at the Umiya Mata temple in the region shortly before his rally.

Gandhi's visit to the Umiya Mata temple at Unjha, which is around 25 km from Mehsana and holds significance in the wake of the agitation for reservation under the OBC category by the Patel community.

The Patel community, a decisive vote bank in Gujarat, has two main sects – Leuva and Kadva. Maa Umiya is the reigning deity of the Kadva Patel community.

Updated at:21st Dec, 2016 at 6:46 PM

He landed at Ahmedabad Airport at around 1:30 pm and went straight to Unjha by helicopter to visit the Umiya Mata temple, where he performed an aarti along with senior state Congress leaders, including Shankarsinh Vaghela, Bharatsinh Solanki and Siddharth Patel.

The entire northern Gujarat belt, including Mehsana, has a sizeable Patel population. The region witnessed some of the most violent protests against the BJP government on the issue of reservation, as well as the deaths of at least 12 Patel youths during the violence in August last year.

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Updated at:21st Dec, 2016 at 6:46 PM