BJP rejects demand for Jaitley's resignation
New Delhi, Sep 13: Rejecting Rahul Gandhi's demand for resignation of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the BJP on Thursday sought to turn the tables by asking Congress President to quit from his post because of his alleged involvement in the National Herald case.
The party also dismissed the claims of Congress leader P.L. Punia, who told the media that Jaitley and fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya met in the Central Hall of Parliament before the latter fled the country on March 2, 2016.
"Rahul Gandhi, who is facing serious criminal charges, should first resign. The people of the country should thank Arun Jaitley, who is working to bring the money back which was looted during the Congress rule," Union Minister Piyush Goyal told a press conference in response to a question over Gandhi's demand for Jaitley's resignation.
"Those, who took loans from hawala companies and accumulated wealth by taking government land free of cost or at lower rate from National Herald and whose case was rejected by the Delhi High Court, should resign first," he added.
The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader was responding to the charges made by Rahul Gandhi, who demanded Jaitley's resignation after accusing him of colluding with fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya "and giving him a free passage" to flee the country.
Gandhi asked why the Minister did not inform the investigating agencies about Mallya's plans to leave India.
Responding to the charges, Goyal said that comments of a criminal or a person who is under the glare of law cannot be taken for any credibility.
"It was a one-way traffic. He (Mallya) was trying to talk to somebody in the passage. By that logic, I was watching Twitter. Lots of people have put up photographs where Rahul Gandhi was seen with Arun Jaitley. I don't think we can run away from Rahul Gandhi because he is a person accused of fraud of huge amount and high court has also dismissed his plea," he said.
The BJP leader dubbed the charges levelled by Congress MP Punia as "incredulous" and suggested he appear before the investigative agencies. He claimed that Punia was forced to speak under pressure.
"Where was he for the last two-and-half years. He should respond to the investigation agencies. Two-and-half-years later he remembers the conversation, the time and a so-called meeting which never took place. One suddenly raises questions on the credibility...a party colleague of Rahul Gandhi is making such incredulous claims," he said.
Punia had claimed the meeting between Jaitley and Mallya lasted 15-20 minutes and alleged that Mallya took Jaitley's permission after holding consultations with him about his planned flight abroad.
The Union Minister for Railways said that the Narendra Modi government never interferes in the work of investigative agencies.
"This government has acted the most against bank defaulters. I think this government took such steps to get the money back looted during Congress rule...," he said.
Showing video clips of the statements made by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi in 2010, which showed that the then government was trying to get Kingfisher out of trouble, the BJP leader accused the Congress of breaking rules to pave the way for restructuring loans to Mallya.
"How since 2010, the Congress and the Gandhi family were having their say in the government? The PM also then said that they wanted to bail out Kingfisher airlines. This proves they allowed the loot... Congress, the Prime Minister, then Aviation Minister were also involved in the conspiracy to save Kingfisher Airlines," he said.
"The Congress party should clarify what relations they had with Kingfisher Airlines. This shows the propensity to which the Congress can lie to cover up their sins," he said.
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Around 70 people killed in attack on hospital in Sudan's Darfur region: WHO chief
El Fasher (AP): Some 70 people were killed in an attack on the only functional hospital in the besieged city of El Fasher in Sudan, the chief of the World Health Organisation said on Sunday, part of a series of attacks coming as the African nation's civil war escalated in recent days.
The attack on the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital, which local officials blamed on the rebel Rapid Support Forces, came as the group has seen apparent battlefield losses to the Sudanese military and allied forces under the command of army chief Gen Abdel-Fattah Burhan. That includes Burhan appearing near a burning oil refinery north of Khartoum on Saturday that his forces said they seized from the RSF.
International mediation attempts and pressure tactics, including a US assessment that the RSF and its proxies are committing genocide and sanctions targeting Burhan, have not halted the fighting.
In the Saudi hospital attack in El Fasher, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus offered the death toll in a post on the social platform X.
Officials and others in the capital of North Darfur province had cited a similar figure Saturday, but Ghebreyesus is the first international source to provide a casualty number. Reporting on Sudan is incredibly difficult given communication challenges and exaggerations by both the RSF and the Sudanese military.
“The appalling attack on Saudi Hospital in El Fasher, Sudan, led to 19 injuries and 70 deaths among patients and companions,” Ghebreyesus wrote. “At the time of the attack, the hospital was packed with patients receiving care.”
Another health facility in Al Malha also was attacked Saturday, he added.
“We continue to call for a cessation of all attacks on health care in Sudan, and to allow full access for the swift restoration of the facilities that have been damaged,” he wrote. “Above all, Sudan's people need peace. The best medicine is peace.”
Ghebreyesus did not identify who launched the attack, though local officials had blamed the RSF for the assault.
The RSF and Sudan's military began fighting each other in April 2023. Their conflict has killed more than 28,000 people, forced millions to flee their homes and left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country.
Other estimates suggest a far higher death toll in the civil war.
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