Sonia accuses Modi of double standards

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday raised the issue of corruption to needle BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, by asking why corrupt ministers were still part of the Gujarat cabinet.

“Every day, Narendra Modi accuses the Congress of ‘bhrastachar’ (corruption) but he has never sacked ministers in his Gujarat cabinet who are believed to be involved in embezzlement of huge funds,” said Sonia, adding, “This is the double standard of the BJP. They preach something and practise something else.”

The Congress chief was addressing a public gathering in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur for Congress’ Lok Sabha nominee and former Union minister Akhilesh Prasad Singh. RJD candidate from the neighbouring Vaishali constituency and former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh shared the dais with her, dispelling the notion that Congress and RJD leaders were not working in tandem in Bihar.

Addressing supporters, many of whom were waving flags of the RJD and the Congress, Sonia said, “Hamare barey mein jhoot aur fareb ka jaal buna ja raha hai BJP ke dwara. (A sinister attempt has been made by the BJP to spread falsehood and paint a wrong picture of its opponents).

The BJP accuses us of corruption while the fact is that we, through legislative measures, have given more teeth to the investigating agencies so that corruption could be fought fiercely.

On the other hand, the Gujarat government did not appoint a Lokayukta in its own state for the last 10 years. Yeh hai inka double speak.”

Continuing her tirade against Modi, she told those gathered that the time had come to choose between a party that spreads falsehood and one that takes along all sections of people.

“We may be out of power in Bihar for the last 24 years. But the Manmohan Singh government has never discriminated while doling out sops, worth several thousands crores, to Bihar in the last 10 years,” she said, hastening to add, “The leader who had an alliance with the BJP for the last 17 years is now shedding crocodile tears and pretending to be secular.” Her apparent dig at JD (U) strongman Nitish Kumar was cheered by the crowd.

Sonia seemed to have made an impact as 65-year-old retired teacher Shiv Shankar Pandey who, like thousands of others, had braved the scorching sun for a glimpse of the Congress president, said, “Indira Gandhi jaisi maryadit bhashan deti hain. (Sonia talks in a cultured way, much like Indira Gandhi).”