Mallya paints himself the victim, quits RS

NEW DELHI: His expulsion imminent, former liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Monday resigned from the Rajya Sabha. The ethics committee of the upper House was to meet on Tuesday to expel Mallya from the upper House. The decision was taken last week and the businessman, who faces action for defaulting on loans of Rs 9,400 crore, was given a week to reply .
In his resignation letter to Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari, Mallya tried to take the moral high ground and presented himself as someone being deliberately wronged.He denied the charges against him as false and baseless. "I am shocked that the department of financial services, ministry of finance, government of India has provided factually wrong information to a Parliament committee," he said.
Mallya said he said he did not want his “name and reputation to be further dragged in the mud“. “And since recent events suggest that I will not get a fair trial or justice, I am hereby resigning as a member of the Rajya Sabha with immediate effect,“ Mallya said. He said he had separately written to Karan Singh, chairperson of the ethics committee. Mallya's term was to get over on July 1.
Mallya thanked Ansari and his “colleagues in the House for all the cooperation“ that he received during his two terms.
He said he received a letter from Karan Singh stating that the Rajya Sabha chairman had referred an issue to the ethics committee regarding “purported default“ by Mallya in the “repayment of bank loans“, which have “not been reflected“ in his declaration of assets and liabilities. Mallya said the letter further stated that in a meeting “purportedly held“ on April 25, the ethics committee unanimously felt that he should be expelled. According to rules, a member who intends to quit Rajya Sabha has to intimate this in writing to the chairman.