'Met Jaitley before leaving India'; Vijay Mallya's podcast stirs political cauldron in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Vijay Mallya, the former owner of Kingfisher Airlines, revealed that he left India in 2016 with the knowledge of Arun Jaitley, who was the then Finance Minister in the BJP government. The statement made in a podcast kickstarted a huge controversy with Congress using it as a timely political weapon to turn against PM Narendra Modi.

In a veiled attack on PM Modi, Congress leader Pawan Khera said "The truth of this person is - Naam Narender, kaam surrender.

Khera's criticism comes on the heels of Rahul Gandhi's remark that "Not Narendra Modi, Surrender Modi, is ruling the country."

Mallya in the podcast said that he informed Jaitley before going to the airport and then flew from Delhi to London.

In a four-hour podcast episode with Raj Shamani, his first public appearance since 2013, Mallya spoke about the airline's collapse and shared his desire to clear the dues. Mallya is facing legal action for allegedly fleeing the country without repaying Rs 9,000 crore of loans given to Kingfisher Airlines by Indian banks. Mallya's lawyer told the Karnataka High Court that banks had recovered Rs 6,200 crore in February this year. He also said that the government's claim that Rs 14,000 crore had been recovered was not accurate. Mallya has been charged with several charges including cheating, criminal conspiracy and money laundering.