Jaitley, Congress trade barbs

Union Minister Arun Jaitley and the Congress on Wednesday traded "How much does he know?" barbs after the senior BJP leader targeted Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his attack on the BJP-led NDA government.

In a Facebook post, Jaitley said, "Every time I listen to the view of Rahul Gandhi, both inside and outside Parliament, I ask myself the same question – How much does he know? When will he know? Listening to his speech delivered in Madhya Pradesh today reaffirms my curiosity about the answer. Is he being inadequately briefed or is he being a little too liberal with his facts?"

The remarks came after Rahul told a gathering to commemorate the first anniversary of Mandsaur protests, where farmers were killed in police firing last year, that the BJP government had waived Rs 2.5 lakh crore loans of 15 top industrialists and loans are not available to farmers.

Responding to the accusation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had waived loans amounting to Rs 2.5 lakh crore, Jaitley said this was factually and completely false and that the government had not waived a single rupee due from any industrialist.

'Trivialisation of farmers'

"Those who owed money to the banks and other creditors have been declared insolvent and removed from their companies by IBC enacted by Prime Minister Modi’s government. These loans were given largely during the UPA government," he said.

Rebutting Jaitley, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asked, "How much does Arun Jaitley know? Has arrogance of power reached such a zenith that BJP is blind to farmer distress? How are empty worded blogs an answer to the betrayal of farmers by Modi govt?"

"Arun Jaitley, Union Minister without portfolio, with zero knowledge of agriculture is giving 'gyan' to the nation again today, with his usual travesty of facts and trivialisation of farmers' issues," he said.