Sonia sets up dinner date with Oppn leaders on Mar 13

New Delhi : Sonia Gandhi has taken the charge of uniting the opposition parties to prepare for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, inviting their leaders for a dinner on March 12 or 13 even while the Congress decried some ambitious individuals trying to damage the opposition unity by exploring a third front, a clear hint at the recent overtures of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi has urged his mother to take the responsibility of dealing with the opposition parties to let him concentrate on strengthening the Congress organisation. On Tuesday, she was closeted with Biju Janata Dal leader Bhratruhari Mehtab in the Lok Sabha hall to discuss impact of the NorthEast elections on Odisha ruled by his party.

Its spokesman and the party’s deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma blasted Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s canard to mislead the nation by claiming on Monday that Chidambaram had taken a decision on May 16, 2014, on the day of the Lok Sabha election results, to benefit private firms under the 80:20 gold import scheme.

At a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, Prasad had said: “Chidambaram gave seven private firms benefits under 80:20 gold import scheme on May 16, 2014, the day Narendra Modi-led BJP was swept to power, ousting the UPA. What does it mean? …Chidamrabarm and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi should tell us why this order to benefit seven private firms was passed on that day. Is it corruption or jumla (rhetoric)?”

Anand Sharma said the law minister should speak with responsibility as the 80:20 gold scheme was notified by the RBI on July 22, 2013 and no decision was taken on May 16, 2014 as alleged by him. “When import bills, because of petroleum and gold import, badly affected the Current Account Deficit, the 80:20 gold import scheme was introduced. Of the total imported gold, 20% had to be exported with value addition under this scheme. Does the BJP minister say this was not in national interest,” he asked.

He also released a copy of the RBI circular that said gold can be imported by notified entities like State Trading Corporation, MMTC, State Bank of India and premium trading houses (private players that can qualify for this category on certain criteria). He insisted that restrictions on gold import were necessary and no policy is made to benefit one or two persons.

The Congress also asserted on Tuesday that the government is trying to divert the nation’’s attention from the main question as to how so many fraudsters escaped India despite repeated forewarning, by raising irrelevant issues and selective targeting of rivals.

 Its chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said: “The main question is how the fraudsters have fled the country? Why are the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister not talking about it? There can’’t be any debate without accountability and action.”

Surjewala said the banking fraud sum had reached Rs 54,318 cr (from Bank of Baroda Forex Scam to Vijay Mallya to NiMo+Choksi, Vikram Kothari, Dwarka Das and Winsome). He added: “Information available through RTI on February 9, 2018, now reflects that under BJP Government’’s watch, bank fraud of Rs 19,317 crore have been reported in Mumbai alone in the last three years and the total becomes over Rs 73,000 crore.”