india

Updated: Apr 29, 2020 12:51 IST

Union minister Prakash Javadekar has hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi saying he was taken aback by Rahul Gandhi’s comment that Modi government has waived off Rs 65,000 crore of loan defaulters.

“@RahulGandhi should take tuition from @PChidambaram_IN on the difference between “write off” and “waive off”. @narendramodi govt has not waived off any loan. “Write off” is a normal accounting process. It doesn’t stop recovery or action against defaults,” Javadekar said on Wednesday.

“Writing off is process to show depositors correct pictures of bank. It doesn’t stop banks from taking actions and pursuing recovery. We’ve seen how Nirav Modi’s assets are seized and auctioned. Mallya has been left with no choice but to come back as his appeal in HC has been rejected,” he added.

Earlier, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had accused Gandhi of “trying to mislead people in a brazen manner”. Sitharaman also listed the cases of Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya and said that the Narendra Modi-led BJP government is pursuing these willful defaulters.

Gandhi had said on Twitter that the government waived loans worth Rs 6.66 lakh crore since 2014 till September 2019.

The former Congress president said he had asked in Parliament the names of the top 50 bank loan defaulters in the country, but the finance minister did not answer. Now, the RBI has given out the list which includes Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and many of BJP’s “friends”, he said.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also released the list of the top loan defaulters in the country, as per an RTI reply, and demanded answers from the prime minister on why their loans were waived.