Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has decided to follow the footsteps of her brother Rahul Gandhi in political strategy, even if Rahul Gandhi has not tasted success with his success. While Rahul Gandhi keeps alleging that PM Narendra Modi works for his 3-4 industrialist friends without evidence, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also made the same allegation today by saying that PM Modi sold Air India to his billionaire friend for a small price.
She made these allegations while addressing the ‘Kisan Nyay Rally’ in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. In a speech that almost sounded like a familiar Rahul Gandhi speech, the Congress leader alleged Narendra Modi is snatching money from the farmers to give to his corporate friends. Priyanka Vadra said that the farmers are protesting against the three new farms laws because they know that when these laws will be implemented, all the earnings, the land, the crop of the farmers will go to the billionaire friends of the PM.
Priyanka Vadra alleged that the earnings of farmers are coming down because the prices of the farm products are being set by the billionaires. She said that Narendra Modi is doing a conspiracy of transferring all the earnings of the farmers to his rich friends. She claimed that while farmers are struggling, Modi’s friends are making thousands of crores per day, and alleged that Modi has sold national assets like airports to his friends.
She further alleged that while the PM bought two aircraft for ‘himself’ for Rs 16,000 crore, he is selling Air India for just Rs 18,000 crore to his friends. It is notable that while Rahul Gandhi keeps naming Adani, Ambani as Modi’s friends, he had not dragged the name of Ratan Tata. But today Priyanka Gandhi added Ratan Tata to the list of ‘Modi’s billionaire friends’.
In almost every third sentence in her speech, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra mentioned Modi’s rich friends. She said that in this country, everyone is unsafe, except PM Modi, his ministers, his party leaders, and his wealthy friends. This is what Rahul Gandhi has been alleging for the last seven years. This shows that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has chosen to follow Rahul Gandhi’s strategy in her efforts to defeat the Yogi Adityanath government in the assembly elections next year.
Lies of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
It is notable that as with Rahul Gandhi’s speech, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s speech was also full of lies. PM Modi has not bought two planes for himself, but the government of India has bought two modern, fuel-efficient aircraft for VVIP travel, to replace the old Boeing 747 aircraft of Air India. These are not Modi’s personal planes, but govt of India property to be used by the PM, President and other top leaders of the country. Moreover, the two customised planes cost around Rs 8400 crore, not Rs 16000 crore as alleged by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
More importantly, these two planes were not ordered separately, but were part of Air India’s order for 68 planes placed with Boeing in 2006, during the Congress govt. Two Boeing 777-300ER aircraft were taken out from that bloated order as govt of India was already considering the purchase of new aircraft for VVIP use. It also must be remembered that the bad days of Air India had started after the UPA govt had ordered more planes for it than it needed, burying it in a huge debt burden from which it could never recover.
Regarding the Air India deal, Tata has been announced as the winner of the deal with its bid of Rs 18,000 crore, and along with it, the company will also take some of the debt burdens. It was a competitive bid, and Tata’s bid was the highest, showing how the market values Air India. The second bid by SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh was for Rs 15,100 crore. As Air India is under massive debt, it was always expected that it will not fetch a big price. Govt may not make a big money by selling it, but the Indian govt is saving thousands of crores of rupees it needs to pay regularly to bail out the airlines.
More than half of the aeroplanes in the Air India fleet are leased, they are not owned by the company. Therefore, those are not assets of the airliner.