Ease of Doing Corruption Has Stopped: Arun Jaitley Hits Back at Rahul

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is been in the eye of a storm for the poor performance of Indian economy, on Tuesday targeted Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi over his "everyone knows the truth of ease of doing business" remark.

The minister, responding to the Gandhi scion's tweet, said: "The difference between the UPA and NDA - The ease of doing corruption has been replaced by the ease of doing business."

On the campaign trail, Gandhi responded Jaitley's jibe by asking why he was silent on corruption charges against Jay Shah, son of BJP president Amit Shah.

Gandhi had, earlier in the day, tweeted that everyone knew "the truth about ease of doing business, but let Dr. Jaitley keep himself happy thinking about it."

The verbal exchange between the two leaders took place a day after the World Bank report on the 'Ease of Doing Business' revealed that India had taken a huge leap from the 130th spot last year to capture the 100th place in 2017.

Jaitley, citing the report, had said that India was the only major country to have been named for undertaking structural reforms by the World Bank. "Biggest jump India got in the ease of doing business was on taxation reforms," Jaitley said.

"Jaitleyji said some foreign organisation has certified that India has considerably improved in ease of doing business," Gandhi said.

Jaitley, he said, sits in his office and believes what foreigners say.

The finance minister, Gandhi added, should meet small and mid-sized businessman for five-10 minutes and ask if the ease of doing business had really improved.

Gandhi, who was on Wednesday addressing a rally in Gujarat's Bharuch district, continued his attack in his speech and said, "Congress leaders pleaded with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the government to not implement Goods and Services Tax (GST) in haste by they refused. GST should never be over 18% and there should not be multiple taxes."