Describing the National Herald case as a "very questionable transaction," Arun Jaitley said, that the Congress is in a "weak place morally."
As the Parliament deadlock over the National Herald case entered its second week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that he was "shocked" to see Congress President Sonia Gandhi use her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi's name "as a threat".
In an exclusive interview to NDTV, Mr Jaitley on Monday said that the Congress chief's statement "reeked of political entitlement".
Last week,
Mrs Gandhi had told NDTV that she was the daughter the former Prime Minister and does not fear "anything or anyone".
Questioning the comment, Mr Jaitley today said, "Is she saying she is above the law or can manage it?"
Congress president Sonia Gandhi walks to the Lok Sabha. (AP photo)
Also attacking Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi in his strongest criticism yet as minister, Mr Jaitley said, "Rahul Gandhi really needs to stop being a cry baby." Mr Gandhi, he said, "finds a new excuse every day" to disrupt Parliament.
Taking on the BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Mr Gandhi had in the morning said outside Parliament that he was
stopped from entering a temple on his recent visit to Assam by RSS workers.
The Congress and other Opposition parties have d
isrupted the Parliament mainly over the National Herald case since last Monday after Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul were summoned by a trial court in the case on Saturday.
Congress party vice president Rahul Gandhi at the Parliament. (AP photo)
, accuses the Gandhis of fraud, cheating, misappropriation and criminal breach of trust in acquiring the assets of a company that had published the National Herald, a newspaper founded by Rahul's great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru.
He alleges that, through a series of debt and equity deals, a shell company that Sonia and Rahul controlled acquired property worth about Rs 5,000 crore after paying just Rs 50 lakh.
The Gandhis deny wrongdoing and allies say the deals caused no financial harm to the Congress party.
Describing the deal as a "very questionable transaction," Mr Jaitley said, that the Congress is in a "weak place morally."