Nirmala Sitharaman: It's Congress' Nawaz Sharif moment

Nirmala Sitharaman

The BJP on Sunday took a dig at the Congress over charge sheets filed against former Union finance minister P Chidambaram's family, with party leader Nirmala Sitharaman wondering if this was the Congress' 'Nawaz Sharif moment'.

The defence minister was referring to the Pakistan Supreme Court's decision disqualifying its former Prime Minister from holding office because of non-disclosure of assets and income earned abroad.

"The parallels cannot be missed out in this case. I am wondering if for Congress party in India, we are seeing the Nawaz Sharif moment," she told the media. The Income Tax department on May 11 filed charge sheets against Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti, daughter-in-law Srinidhi and a firm under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets. Sitharaman asked if Congress president Rahul Gandhi would investigate the issue involving his party's senior leader.

"The Congress president, incidentally who is also out on bail on some financial transactions, which are questionable, should certainly comment and tell the entire party and people of India whether he is going to investigate this," she said.

She pointed out that the Pakistan Supreme Court had disqualified Sharif from holding office because of not disclosing assets held in foreign countries. Sitharaman said the law on black money was brought in by the Modi government, because it had pledged to fight black money held in India and abroad before the last Lok Sabha elections.