'Lights, Camera, Scam': Rahul Gandhi’s mordacious attack on PM Modi over IL&FS bailout

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday launched a mordacious attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of using public money to rescue debt-ridden Infrastructure Leasing & Finance Services (IL&FS). Gandhi alleged that Modi government was trying to bailout the IL&FS group with a debt of over Rs. 91,000 crore via public savings deposited in the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and the state-run SBI bank.

The IL&FS is a vast group that operates through more than 250 subsidiaries including IL&FS Investment managers, IL&FS financial services and IL&FS Transportation networks India Limited (ITNL). The group finances infrastructure projects across the country.

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In a tweet that starts with “Lights, Camera, Scam”, the Congress president claimed that Modi had given the IL&FS group a "Gift City" project worth Rs. 70,000 crore in 2007 when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. However, he said, there has not been any work on the plan till now.

"People of India have faith in the LIC. They save every single penny to buy an LIC policy. So why should their money be used to save fraud companies?" the Gandhi scion said in another tweet and gave a new acronym to IL&FS - "'I Love Financial Scams".

मोदीजी, आपकी चहेती निजी कम्पनी ILFS डूबने वाली है। आप LIC का पैसा लगाकर उसे बचाना चाहते हो।क्यों?

LIC देश के भरोसे का चिन्ह है। एक-एक रुपया जोड़कर लोग LIC की पॉलिसी लेते हैं। उनके पैसे से जालसाजों को क्यों बचाते हो?

कहीं आपके लिए ILFS का मतलब ‘I Love Financial Scams' तो नहीं?

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 30, 2018

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Earlier, the Congress party had demanded a forensic audit of the group over the disbursement of Rs. 42,000 crore by the Modi government in the last four years. The audit demand from the Congress party came after some of the group’s subsidiaries defaulted on commercial paper repayment obligations.

On Saturday, the group had said that it would repay creditors by selling its assets and sought shareholders' permission to carry out its plans.