Jaitley met Mallya for 15-20 minutes day before he fled: Congress

The Congress claimed Thursday that Vijay Mallya had met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament on March 1, 2016 and that the two of them had talked for 15 to 20 minutes.

Mallya left the country on March 2, 2016.

The claim that Mallya met Jaitley was made by Congress MP PL Punia at a press conference called by Congress President Rahul Gandhi at the party's headquarters in Delhi.

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Punia said he had seen Jaitley and Mallya talking to each other in the Central Hall of Parliament. Punia said the two of them talked — they were standing, not sitting —for 15 to 20 minutes.

Punia added that the meeting took place on March 1, 2016. And that the CCTV cameras in the hall could be checked to corroborate his claim.

Mallya had Wednesday said in London that he had met Jaitley and had told him that he was leaving for the UK. He added that he had repeated his offer to settle with the banks to Jaitley.

Jaitley had yesterday refuted Mallya's claim, saying it was "factually false".

Jaitley said Mallya, who was a Rajya Sabha MP at the time, had accosted him in a Parliament corridor. Jaitley said he cut Mallya off and told him that if he wanted to settle, then he should be talking to the banks.

Mallya had backed down from his claim after's Jaitley's rebuttal, saying that he only "happened to meet" the finance minister and that it was not a "formal meeting".

The opposition however very quickly latched on to Mallya's claim, and demanded a probe.

The waters were further muddied by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy who claimed Wednesday that his sources had told him the lookout notice against Mallya was changed from "block" to "report" departure, which allowed Mallya to leave the country.

On Thursday, Rahul Gandhi said that meant Jaitley had colluded with Mally to allow him to leave the country.

And that he must therefore resign.