New Delhi: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today accused BJP of attacking his father, Rajiv Gandhi, for the last 30 years despite the judiciary clearing the latter’s name in the Bofors controversy of 1980s. This came after external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had reacted with jibes at the Gandhi family against the opposition demands for her resignation over the Lalit Modi controversy on Wednesday.
His office’s tweets are self explanatory.
“The judicial system of India has said that this was nothing but a campaign against Rajiv Gandhi. Despite the fact that the judiciary had cleared Rajiv Gandhi, the BJP has been repeatedly raking up the issue for the last 30 years,” Rahul said.
After both Houses of Parliament were adjourned sine die, at the end of a markedly unproductive session, primarily on account of Congress led disruptions, the Congress VP protested against the Lalit Modi issue and the multi-crore Vyapam admission and recruitment scam near the Mahatma Gandhi statue inside the Parliament complex. Protesting leaders carried placards with messages such as ” we demand justice for 48 lives” and “48 persons have died, Speak up Prime Minister”. They also shouted slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA Government. Congress VP Rahul Gandhi was part of the protest.
On Wednesday, speaking in Lok Sabha, Swaraj had insisted she had not misused her office to help the former cricket magnate and, in a biting retort, pointed to the Bofors scandal of the 1980s in which former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and several other Congress politicians were implicated for allegedly receiving kickbacks.
On Thursday, Rahul Gandhi hit back, saying, “Swaraj and (finance minister Arun) Jaitley defended black money network in Parliament yesterday (Wednesday) but Lalit Modi is the biggest link between the political and black money system”.
Jaitley had described the Congress vice-president as “an expert without knowledge.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who had initiated a debate on the Lalit Modi issue in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, too attacked Jaitley for defending Lalit Modi.
“Jaitley sahab was defending Lalit Modi like a lawyer in a court,” said Kharge.
The Congress vice-president also dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring former IPL boss Lalit Modi back to India, saying that he will continue to attack the PM who is running away from a debate. “After we lost the election, I thought (PM Modi) had it in him, but now we know, he doesn’t have the guts,” Gandhi told reporters on Thursday outside Parliament.
“We have realised PM Modi gets scared. We will apply full pressure on the government to bring back Lalit Modi. I have been telling Modiji that it is a great opportunity to bring Lalit Modi back and clean up the corruption in cricket,” said Gandhi.
PM accuses Congress of ‘Emergency’ like attitude
Joining the war of words, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday equated Congress’ attitude to Emergency days.
Addressing NDA’s MPs’, Prime Minister said, “Congress is desperate as it wants power to remain concentrated with one family. Congress wants to save the family, but BJP wants to save the nation.”
NDA Parliamentary Party also passed resolution against disruptions by Congress in Parliament, vowing “to expose” Congress before public in month-long campaign.
NDA MPs’ marched from Vijay Chowk to President House as protest to ‘Save Democracy’. Whereas the opposition also staged protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in Parliament over the Vyapam scam.
Meanwhile attacking Congress, HRD Minister Smriti Irani said, “People can see that Congress is a party unable to come terms with loss of one family’s fortune after 55 years.”
