UPA gave 'sweet deal' to Kingfisher Airlines to keep it afloat: BJP

The BJP on Thursday alleged that the UPA government had given a "sweet deal" to Kingfisher Airlines. The BJP further suggested that the airline was perhaps owned by the Gandhi family.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Sambit Patra attacked Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and produced a purported confessional statement of a hawala trader. He alleged that the Congress chief had links with a shell company.

Patra added that Rahul Gandhi was on the backfoot in the case of Kingfisher Airlines and its promoter Vijay Mallya, as well as the entire Gandhi family, travelled on the airline and their travel was upgraded to business class for free.

"The entire Gandhi family was, in fact, helping Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines with the sweet deal," Patra said while showing a bunch of documents related to the loans given by banks to the airline.

"There is a series of letters between the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) and the SBI (State Bank of India). These letters show us how the previous dispensation under Sonia Gandhi was biased, partial and kept all norms and regulations at bay to give a sweet deal to Kingfisher Airlines," he alleged.

"Sometimes it seems the airline was not owned by Mallya, but by the Gandhi family in the proxy," Patra said.

He further added that Rahul Gandhi had no right to question others on corruption as he is out on bail (in the National Herald case).

Patra's retort came after Rahul Gandhi demanded a probe into Mallya's claim that he had met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley before leaving India. 

(With inputs from PTI)