The repercussions of IL&FS mess is being felt in political circles now. Launching a sharp attack, laced with sarcasm, on prime minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi posed some pertinent questions. Taking to Twitter, Rahul said Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) is the country’s symbol of trust and common people have saved every rupee to buy its policies. “Modi ji, your favourite private company IL&FS is about to turn bankrupt. You are trying to save it by putting the money of LIC. Why?” he asked in a tweet in Hindi. “Why are you using LIC money to save fraudsters? For you, hope IL&FS does not mean ‘I Love Financial Scams,” he said.

In another tweet, he alleged that in 2007, Modi as Gujarat chief minister gave the Rs 70,000 crore ‘Gift City’ project to IL&FS in which nothing has happened till now and alleged that a fraud had come to light. In comparison, Rahul alleged that in 2018 prime minister Modi is trying to give a bailout of Rs 91,000 crore to debt-ridden Infrastructure Leasing & Finance Services (IL&FS) through public money in the LIC and the SBI.
“Chowkidar ki dari mein tinka (the watchman is guilty conscious),” he said.

Earlier, the Congress party had warned of “an impending ‘Lehman Brothers-type’ economic crisis facing the country.” The party has called for a forensic audit of the group over the disbursement of Rs 42,000 crore in the last four years. Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari also tweeted that nobody knows where the Rs 42,000 crore disappeared. “This is why IL&FS financials need to be forensically audited as management, principal shareholders and NDA/BJP government are unwilling to address the Rs 42,000 crore question. Rs 42,000 crore was disbursed in past four years. Nobody knows where the money disappeared,” Tiwari tweeted.