Click to play videoNew Delhi: The family of Pratibha Patil, the ruling UPA's Presidential candidate, could face legal action in a loan default case.
Documents available with CNN-IBN show that a cooperative sugar factory, of which Pratibha is the founder-president, has been declared a defaulter for failing to return a Rs 17. 5-crore bank loan.
Pratibha quit the Sant Mukthai Cooperative Sugar Factory in 1996, but her brother G N Patil continues to be the president of the cooperative in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district.
The factory owes the Mumbai District Cooperative Bank Rs 17.5 crore. The loans were taken in 1994. Bank officials say the loan has not been repaid despite repeated reminders.
The bank has regularly been sending notices to the cooperative of which Pratibha was the president.
In a notice sent eight days ago, the bank has threatened to attach the factory's properties.
The bank has denied malafide intent saying the other 14 factories had also been served similar notice.
The Congress, which leads the UPA, denied Pratibha or her family had defaulted on loans. “This is an attempt to tarnish the image of the Presidential candidate. She has absolutely nothing to do with this. She has no connections with the bank and all this is a conspiracy to malign her image. The timing is very suspect too,” said Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan.
“If there was a default, nothing prevented the bank from moving against people who are there and recovering whatever was due to the bank from the factory. The fact that it’s come eight days before the Presidential Election speaks volumes. The media should not sensationalise,” she said.
Natarajan also said there was no need for Patil to take any moral responsibility for the expose. “We are clearly having this discussion as she is a candidate who is set to become the first woman President of the country. She may or may not have been associated with the bank. Her family may run the sugar factory but she is not connected with it,” said Natarajan.
Natarajan said the role of the bank officials was equally suspect and needs looking into. “The Presidential candidate should be kept out of such dirty tricks,” she insisted.
BJP’s Chandan Mitra said the story was a major revelation. “It’s not that people have not defaulted with bank loans before but somebody who is expected to assume the highest office in the country has to be above all allegations and suspicions,” he said.
Mitra said Pratibha Patil's family had done something many Indian politicians do. He said there was nothing surprising about the timing of these stories. "This always happens. People who want these stories out will always time it this way. It's because of Pratibha's position that these exposes are gaining credence," Mitra said.
But at the same time he also said Pratibha owes and answer to these questions as she is now in a position of power.
Pratibha, a former Rajasthan governor, is expected to win the Presidential election smoothly. In an incident related to the election, a woman on Friday claimed that Pratibha’s brother was involved in her husband’s murder in Jalgaon.
Rajni Patil claimed at a press conference organized by an NDA ally that Pratibha had “protected” her brother and interfered with the murder investigation.
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