Smriti Irani questions Rahul Gandhi's silence over IT raids against Kamal Nath's aides

Union minister Smriti Irani on Thursday questioned the silence of Congress president Rahul Gandhi over the I-T raids against close aides of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath. The Income-Tax Department had Monday detected a "widespread and well-organised" racket of collection of unaccounted cash of about Rs 281 crore during raids against close aides of Nath.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said the department had also detected a trail of Rs 20 crore suspect cash allegedly being moved to the "headquarters of a major political party in Delhi" from the house of an important person who lives on Tughlaq Road.

Responding to a question on 'chowkidar ki chori' remark made by the Congress president, Irani told reporters in Amethi, "Why isn't Rahul Gandhi revealing who the gentleman from Madhya Pradesh is who transferred loot money to a person residing on Tughlaq Road?"

"What type of politics is the Congress practising wherein its leaders commit the sin of looting money meant for the welfare of pregnant women and poor children?" she added.

"Rahul Gandhi is still silent over the fact that from the residence of an aide of Kamal Nath, details about Rs 280 crore had emerged... Rahul's silence exposes his reality," she said further.

The Union minister said as far as the Lok Sabha elections were concerned, the people wanted a vision on the reconstruction of the country similar to what Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP has presented.

"Five years ago, Narendra Modi was the prime ministerial candidate, and he served the country as its pradhan sevak for five years. We express our thanks to the party workers for the love and respect which Narendrabhai has got. We are confident that he will get the responsibility of country's pradhan sevak once again," Irani said.

She also reiterated that for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it is "nation first, party next and self-last" as she thanked the senior party workers who were tortured and jailed for protesting against the Congress, the youngsters who are strengthening the organisation party as well as the women.