New Delhi: This is now a no holds barred contest between the Congress and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After the prime minister charged that the Haryana government had violated the model code of conduct to favour the Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, the party has hit back strongly by calling him a ‘habitual liar.’
Prefacing his scathing observations with an expression of regret that he is being compelled to use such language about the prime minister, the Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said, “At times, in politics there are some wrong statements. But when the Prime Minister of a country becomes a habitual liar, it should be condemned,” he said.
Ahmed said that the prime minister had levelled this charge on the basis of a newspaper report. ‘‘The newspaper reported that the Congress government in Haryana has officially legitimized the land deal between Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Vadra and DLF. It mentioned a letter sent on July 16 which says that the mutation is valid. The model code of conduct came into force on September 12 and our Prime Minister says what happened before July 16 is a violation of model code of conduct and Election Commission should pay attention. Such lies are not befitting to a Prime Minister of a country,” said Ahmed who is the general secretary in-charge of Haryana. During his campaign speeches in Haryana, the prime minister had referred to this case and called upon the Election Commission to look into the matter. “We welcome any steps that the EC would be taking to find out the facts in this case, and hope that it takes necessary follow-up action as well,” said Ahmed.
Ahmed also questioned the prime minister’s silence on the frequent cross border attacks from Pakistan in Kashmir. “It appears that the Prime Minister’s ‘56-inch chest’ has been reduced to just 5.6 inches. It is unfortunate that civilians are being killed. But our Prime Minister is neither tweeting about it nor mentioning it in his election speeches now. Why is he silent?” he observed. In the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, which he swept, the PM had said leaders with 56-inch chests are needed to guide India, and Ahmed pointed out that even after winning 282 seats, the prime minister has not been able to find a single MP suitable for the full time job of the defence minister. “Mr Jaitley is a part-time defence minister by his own admission,” he added. Yesterday, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley warned, “Let everybody be assured that our armed forces and para-military forces are fully ready and they are responding to each of these provocations from Pakistan.”
