Mallya has no change of heart, law is catching up: BJP
New Delhi, June 27 : The BJP on Wednesday said Vijay Mallya has had no change of heart and he was not willing to clear his loans as the law was catching up with the fugitive liquor baron.
"This is not a change of heart that he wants to repay the money (to banks) but the fact is that the law is catching up with those who felt entitled to play with the law," spokesperson Sambit Patra told the media.
Mallya, facing a Rs 9,000 crore Kingfisher Airline loan default case, on Tuesday made public a letter he wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016 saying he wanted to pay up his dues but had been made the "poster boy" of bank default.
Patra said the corrupt with 'benami' (unaccounted) properties were feeling the heat as the government was bringing in strict laws like the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
He compared the letter by Mallya to Modi with the one the tycoon had written to Manmohan Singh when he was the Prime Minister in 2011 and said while the letter to Modi expressed his unhappiness, the one to Singh thanked him for extending support.
"In his letter to Modi, Mallya said he was unhappy due to CBI, SFIU and ED investigating his case making him a poster boy of bank defaults and public anger. But the one to Manmohan Singh thanked him for facilitating a loan of Rs 550 crore," Patra said.
The BJP leader said the Congress gave him loans but the BJP was working to recover it by seizing his properties and this was making him unhappy.
"Mallya has travelled a long way from the king of good times during the UPA era to becoming the poster boy of bank default and corruption," he said.
Patra questioned Congress President Rahul Gandhi, whose brother-in-law Robert Vadra had been charged with tax evasion. The Income Tax department had served Vadra and his company Sky Light Hospitality a notice to pay Rs 25 crore.
Vadra had disclosed an income of Rs 37 lakh in 2010-11, while a re-evaluation by the IT department said the total income for the financial year was Rs 43 crore.
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Unemployed class 10 passouts in Bengal to get Rs 1,500 allowance from March 7: Mamata
Kolkata (PTI): Ahead of the assembly polls, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that from Saturday unemployed young job seekers, having passed secondary examination (class 10), will receive Rs 1,500 allowance every month to help them move towards a self-reliant future.
The TMC supremo made this announcement - on the eve of International Women’s Day on March 8 - during her speech at the sit-in against large-scale deletion of names of voters by the Election Commission during Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral roll exercise.
She said young men and women - aged 21–40 years - who have passed the secondary exams - will receive Rs 1,500 per month from March 7. Bannerjee said while the assistance was originally scheduled to begin in April, it will now start immediately.
"In the case of Yuva Sathi, all those who are still studying and are not beneficiaries of any schemes other than scholarships will receive the amount. We had earlier stated that the money would be given on April 1. But since tomorrow is International Women's Day, as a gift, we have changed the payment date from April 1 to today (March 7)," she said.
All those aged between 21 and 40 years, numbering around 1 crore people, have applied for this scheme, she said, pointing out these are people who are not beneficiaries of any other schemes except scholarships.
Claiming that her government has generated employment opportunities to a great extent, Banerjee said, "The unemployment rate in Bengal has decreased by 40 per cent. We have provided skill training to at least 40 lakh people, out of which around 10 lakh are already employed.
"This has also happened because we have linked the websites of industrialists with those who have received skill training through Utkarsha Bangla. If migrant workers are interested, they will also be given opportunities. Recently, I heard that around 10,000 people are being trained in the jute industry, and they will also be absorbed into jobs," she said.
The CM said the state is giving Rs 10,000 to farmers every month.
"Even those with just one cottah of land used to receive Rs 4,000 earlier. Now we have also announced Rs 4,000 for landless farmers," she said.
Banerjee said in Bengal, six economic corridors are being constructed to connect the entire state.
"Apart from that, two power plants of 1,600 megawatts (800 megawatts each) are being built in Salboni. We are also number one in IT. More people are employed here than in Bengaluru. Around 200 new companies have also come here.
"Those who defame the state should know that we are number one in small and medium-scale industries. Around 1.5 crore people work in small-scale industries. Units from across the country have come here. In Bengal's leather hub in Bantala, at least 7.5 lakh people work there. Our self-help group women are doing really well. We have created around 12 lakh self-help groups," she said.
Banerjee said around one lakh people will be employed in the large coal reserve in Deucha Pachami in Birbhum district and for the next 100 years, there will be no power cuts in the state.
Bengal's GSDP is the highest even after "repaying Rs 6 lakh crore of debt and paying interest on it and despite Rs 2 lakh crore of central funds still pending," the CM said.
"From GSDP to revenue generation, we are the highest," she claimed.
