Rahul accuses govt in LS of not disclosing names of top 50 bank defaulters, Anurag Thakur gives him befitting reply

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday raised a question in Lok Sabha and accused the government of not replying to his question on top 50 wilful bank defaulters but Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur hit back, saying the government will hide nothing and will now allow itself to be blamed for “sins” of others.

He said Modi government has taken a series of steps to recover money from fugitive economic offenders and a list of wilful defaulters is available on the website.
Thakur said the question of member showed his lack of understanding on the subject. “They distributed money, we brought it back,” he said.

Asking a supplementary, Gandhi said the economy was passing through a difficult phase and there had been “hollowing out” of banks. The Congress leader said he had asked about top 50 wilful defaulters but “the government had not given a reply”.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had talked of bringing to book and bringing back all those who had looted public money but “answer had not been given” to his question.

Watch what Rahul Gandhi said 

#WATCH Congress MP Rahul Gandhi: I had asked a simple question about the names of 500 wilful defaulters. But I was not given a clear answer. What hurt me was that the Speaker did not allow me to ask a supplementary question which is my right as a member of Parliament pic.twitter.com/uFOezZ33P5

— ANI (@ANI) March 16, 2020

As Thakur began to respond, Gandhi asked why Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman, who was in the House, was not responding. Speaker Om Birla said most replies during question hour by Ministers of State.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi at Parliament: I had asked a simple question about the names of wilful defaulters. But I was not given a clear answer. What hurt me was that the Speaker did not allow me to ask a secondary question which is my right as a member of Parliament. pic.twitter.com/vP0X7aBhr9

— ANI (@ANI) March 16, 2020

Thakur attacked the Congress-led UPA and said people know how defaults happened, why these happened. As Congress members protested, he said they should listen to the reply after having asked the question.

Anurag Thakur replied

Thakur said that defaults in gross advances by banks had gone down during the rule of NDA government.

“It was 0.64 per cent of gross advances in 2010-14 but came down to 0.18 per cent in 2018-20 and 0.08 per cent in 2019-20,” he said. Thakur said the government has taken a series of steps to improve the condition of banks including asset capital review and recapatilastion.

He said all those who had wilfully defaulted loans above Rs 25 lakh were available on the website.

“A list of wilful defaulters is available on the website. The government is not going to hide. It will not allow itself to be blamed for sins committed by others. All these people took the money and went away during their (Congress) rule,” he said.

MoS Finance A Thakur in LokSabha:A list of wilful defaulters is available on the website.There is nothing to hide. All these people took money went away during their (Congress) govt. The question posed by a senior member of the House shows his lack of understanding of the subject https://t.co/mXqvrpfh2l pic.twitter.com/8XgXO3C0gN

— ANI (@ANI) March 16, 2020

Thakur said names of defaulters of over Rs one crore were also available. “I am ready to give all the names and lay them on the table of the House,” he said. Thakur alleged that the fugitive offender had taken loans during the UPA government.

Thakur said large amounts of loans crores had been recovered and the government had brought Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill and property of offenders had been seized.

He also referred to the sale of a painting of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor through cheque and said he was not making political allegations.

“We did not go there,” he said. (ANI).