NEW DELHI: A combative Congress today said it would not allow the government to "go off the hook without giving an answer" in the Lalit Modi controversy, hitting back at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who brushed aside concerns of Parliament's monsoon session being disrupted over the issue.
"BJP and the Prime Minister want to ride this out... by shamelessly brazening it out. People of India will not allow them to go off the hook without giving an answer. All lame excuses are unacceptable," party spokesman P C Chacko said.
Insisting that the Congress would not allow the government to brush aside the scam that easily, Chacko said Jaitley's remarks showed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "zero tolerance" for honesty, probity and accountability.
Jaitley, who is the Leader of the Rajya Sabha, earlier today brushed aside concerns of Parliament's upcoming monsoon session being disrupted over the Lalit Modi row, saying "some people may be of relevance to television channels, (but) they have no relevance to governance as far as the Government of India is concerned".
Jaitley said the Bills to amend the Land Acquisition Act and bring in a uniform pan-India Goods and Services Tax (GST) are very crucial for development and hoped no political party takes anti-growth and anti-development position.
The Finance Minister was hopeful that no political party will take anti-growth and anti-development stand to block the crucial Bills, which he termed as "extremely necessary".
He was replying to a question on the possibility of the monsoon session of Parliament getting washed out over Congress' demand for resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje over their alleged links with former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.