We will deal with it: Rahul Gandhi unfazed by UK citizenship row

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi appeared unfazed on Monday by a parliamentary notice over his citizenship as his party accused the Centre of carrying out personal attacks to divert attention from more urgent issues.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi appeared unfazed on Monday by a parliamentary notice over his citizenship as his party accused the Centre of carrying out personal attacks to divert attention from more urgent issues.

BJP Subramanian Swamy claimed Rahul Gandhi declared himself to be a British citizen to float a firm in the United Kingdom.(Sonu Mehta/ HT Photo)

“We will deal with that,” Gandhi told reporters when asked about a show-cause notice issued by the ethics committee of Parliament, asking whether he declared himself a British citizen to float a firm in the UK.

The Congress dismissed the charge, saying the Centre was raising baseless issues to divert attention from the Vijay Mallya loan default row.

“When the BJP has absolutely nothing left to say against the Congress, then coming out with personal attacks is their trend and they are doing just that today. We strongly reject all these fabricated charges,” Congress leader PL Punia told ANI.

A member of the parliamentary ethics committee, Arjun Ram Meghwal told ANI it was a very serious matter and the committee would discuss the further course of action once the Congress vice-president responds.

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“A complaint reached the Lok Sabha speaker which she forwarded to the parliamentary ethics committee. The ethics committee, therefore, issued a show-cause notice asking him to respond to as to how he showed his British citizenship when he was about to become the director of a company in London,” Meghwal told ANI.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had accused Gandhi of declaring himself a British citizen to float a firm in that country. He had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded that Gandhi should be stripped of his Indian citizenship and his membership of Parliament.

Swamy alleged that Gandhi had floated a company called Backops Limited in 2003 in the United Kingdom, and in the annual return form, he had declared himself to be of British nationality with a UK address. Rahul also held 65% of the total shares issued by this company, Swamy claimed.

(With agency inputs)