Beleaguered liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Sunday, 31 March, cited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent interview to assert that the Centre has recovered more than what he owed the banks.
In a tweet, Mallya asserted the prime minister has “taken his name” and confirmed full recovery, and questioned why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokespersons were “continuing their rhetoric.”
‘Suits BJP to Say I Ran Away’
He also slammed that BJP for saying that he ran away from the country, while ignoring the fact that he has been a United Kingdom resident since 1992.
What Did PM Modi Say?
In an interview to interview to Republic Bharat Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, PM Modi had claimed that his government recovered almost double the amount that Mallya owed to the banks.
“We brought in a law that enabled the Indian government to confiscate the property of fugitives in any part of the world. You must’ve seen in the case of Vijay Mallya. He owed banks Rs 9,000 crore but the government has confiscated his properties worth Rs 14,000 crore from across the world. Now, he is in trouble because we are taking double the amount,” said the PM Modi said, in an interview on 28 March.
Mallya had recently appealed against his extradition to India after fleeing from the country more than three years ago, in March 2016.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)