NEW DELHI: BJP sought to pin the blame for the Punjab National Bank scam on the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government and asked the grand old party to clarify if there is a link between a prime accused Nirav Modi- Rahul Gandhi meeting in September, 2013 and issuing of a letter of credit a day later.When asked about Nirav Modi ’s financial wrongdoings during NDA rule post-2014, BJP maintained that the whole case is a banking scam and not one involving the government- a condition that would apply to the fraud committed by him during UPA rule too.BJP claimed that Dinesh Dubey, a government nominee director of Allahabad Bank, had opposed sanction of Rs 1500 + Rs 50 Cr to Gitanjali Jewellersowned by Nirav Modi’s uncle Mehul Choksi- during a meeting of the Board of Directors of the bank at Kolkata on September 14, 2013. The emails reportedly sent by Dubey to Reserve Bank of India in broken English allege that his dissent was not noted in the records and the money was sanctioned.HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar charged that Nirav Modi and Rahul Gandhi had met on September 13, 2013 and the funds sanctioned a day later. He asked the Congress to clarify if there is an association between the meeting and the decision of the Allahabad Bank.BJP claimed government alertness has unearthed this scam. However, the party could not give convincing answers about how Nirav Modi, his wife and brother as well as Choksi managed to leave India. Javadekar said the FIR against Nirav Modi was lodged only on January 29 while they left the country in the first week of last month.The ruling party has claimed swift action will be taken in the matter and compared it to the case against Kingfisher Airline chief Vijay Mallya. Incidentally, Mallya too fled the country before any action could be initiated against him.Javadekar said Dubey has alleged that he had complained to the then Finance Secretary in 2013 but the latter pressurised him and suggested he should quit his post.“We would like to ask as to who was putting pressure on the finance secretary,” the minister said. BJP maintained that this fraud as well as the non-performing assets of the UPA government came to light when the NDA government reformed the banking system.He emphasised that the PNB scam was a “cascading” case which was detected only in 2018. Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, “The Prime Minister’s Office, Enforcement Directorate, ministry of corporate affairs, Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) and SEBI, as also two BJP state governments — in Maharashtra and Gujarat — were aware of the scam pursuant to a series of complaints filed as early as May 7, 2015. We are releasing copies of those letters of complaint.Why was no action taken?” He added, “Despite the law minister asking ‘who is Mehul Choksi’ as if he had never heard about him, at a public event on ‘gold monetization scheme,’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi had publicly acknowledged Mehul Choksi as “hamara Mehul Bhai.” Is it not a fact?”