Narendra Modi did not want Parliament to run because of Rafale deal and Nirav Modi: Rahul Gandhi

Blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for disruption of proceedings in the Parliament, All India Congress Committee President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday alleged that Mr. Modi had prevented discussion on the Rafale deal and diamantaire Nirav Modi, who is accused of banking fraud.

“Mr. Modi did not want Parliament to run because of Rafale deal and Nirav Modi, which we wanted to discuss. He (Mr. Modi) does not want to discuss (these issues) because of his close relationship with Nirav Modi and diamantaire Mehul Choksi,” Mr. Gandhi said during an interaction with selected industrialists and businessmen here on Sunday. The Parliament functioning has been disrupted for over 20 days.

The discussion, attended by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and senior Congress leaders, was part of his election campaign in Karnataka, which is going to Assembly elections on May 12. During his nearly half an hour interaction, he also criticised several policies and projects initiated by NDA government, including the loopholes in Goods and Services Tax, State of finances and bullet train projects.

Stating that the country was heading into “serious bad weather” because of the way NPAs are being handled and structured, the Congress chief said that the Government is not listening to experts and Prime Minister thought that he can handle the financial front too. “Now he is finding out that he cannot do it.” Country is paying because of the haphazard manner in which financial sector has been handled, he added.

Terming the bullet train project between Ahmedabad and Mumbai as just a “show piece”, Mr. Gandhi said that the government is spending ₹1 lakh crore on a “badly conceptualised project”, which is not part of a larger strategy. “I am not against bullet trains if they are part of a strategy. There might be places in India where you may want to use it (bullet trains).”

Over the next 20 to 30 years, he said that the competition would be with China and there is a need for creating jobs. “Job creation will be the central theme over next years. Nation should think of measuring the jobs. All this while, growth was the central part. There is a need to change the mindset as to know how many jobs were created,” he added.

To a question if Congress would bring petroleum products under GST, Mr. Gandhi said that the Congress will have a re-look into the GST. “We do not agree with the basic composition of the GST. We will completely transform it from the current five layers to one single layer, which will also have petroleum products under its fold,” he said, adding that five layers breed corruption.

“The current GST is designed to hurt small and medium industries and protect 10 to 15 large businessmen in India,” he alleged.