Rahul acting as lobbyist for foreign firms: BJP

The BJP Tuesday accused Rahul Gandhi of working as a "lobbyist" for foreign firms and asserted that the e-mail he cited to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to some chopper deal and not the purchase of Rafale fighter jet as the Congress president claimed.

After Gandhi accused Modi of "treason" claiming that businessman Anil Ambani was aware in advance of the Rafale deal India and France had signed in 2015, senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad dismissed his charges as "height of shamelessness and irresponsibility" and dubbed him a "lying machine".

The Union minister also put Airbus, whose internal e-mail was cited by the Congress president, in a dock, saying the European aircraft manufacturer is under a needle of suspicion in deals finalised during the previous Congress-led government.

The firm is also linked to a corporate lobbyist, who was recently deported from the UAE and is being probed on money laundering charges, he alleged.

"Let Rahul Gandhi explain where did he get internal e-mail of Airbus. Who is supplying him? ...There cannot be a bigger thing than this that he is working as a lobbyist for foreign firms," Prasad said.

He also took strong exception to the Congress leader charging Modi with "treason", saying his party had serious differences with former prime ministers coming from the Gandhi family over several "murky" defence deals signed during their term but it never accused them of treason.

"He (Rahul Gandhi) has thrown muck at his own face by abusing our honest prime minister... We will expose his lies before the public," he said.

Gandhi has repeatedly levelled allegations against the government over baseless claims, he said.

Earlier Tuesday, Gandhi accused Modi of acting as a "middleman" of Anil Ambani in the Rafale jet deal, as he cited the e-mail to claim the businessman was aware of the MoU before India and France signed it.

In a scathing counter-attack targeting the Gandhi family, the BJP leader alleged that its members "looted" the country and that both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are on bail in a case of "land grab", a reference to the National Herad case.

When they were in power, they made money by "brokering" deals and have now become lobbyist for foreign firms for making money, Prasad added.

Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra is facing probe and he has the temerity to question our honest prime minister, he said.

"This is height of shamelessness and irresponsibility. He called the prime minister traitor. What else we can expect from this lying machine," he said.

To Gandhi's dismissal of the CAG report on the Rafale deal as "Chowkidar auditor general" report, the BJP leader said the Congress has a tendency to target institutions when their stand does not suit them.