TNI Bureau: A new political debate is emerged after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi offered to tender a public apology if his allegation against Sonia Gandhi found false. It is alleged that Rs. 1,880 crore was spent from state exchequer for Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s foreign trips.
Addressing a rally in Junagarh, Mr Modi said, “To those Congress friends, who are accusing our government of uncontrolled expenditure, I want to ask: is it not true that on the foreign travels of the President of the Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi, in the past three years, Rs. 1,880 crore has been spent from the public exchequer.”
He also questioned the integrity of the Manmohan Singh government and surprised how it has paid such huge amount for Sonia’s personal foreign tours in the time of inflation and financial crisis in our country.
The chief minister cited a report in a local vernacular paper that the expenditure on Mrs Gandhi’s foreign trips had been revealed through a Right to Information applicant based in Hissar of Haryana. However, the RTI activist, Ramesh Verma clarified that the chief minister has incorrectly attributed the details to him.
Reacting to this allegations, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said,”There is nothing to hide about Sonia Gandhi’s foreign trips. Modi is politicising someone’s illness and it shows their low thinking, what else we can expect from him.”
“He should apologise for false and baseless statement,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said yesterday. Making a mockery, the Gujarat Congress chief Arjun Modhwadia had said that Mr Modi should get a Nobel Prize for lying.
“I do not know where he got this information from. As far as Narendra Modi is concerned, vitriol and untruth come naturally to him. This is his mindset. As the Gujarat election is approaching, he feels the grounds well of support is in our favour, and he is losing his sense of balance,” Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said.
Mr Modi has however claimed that the Congress is trying to suppress the RTI facts.
The Chief Minister is on a pre-election statewide tour. Mrs Gandhi is scheduled to visit Gujarat on Thursday. She is going to start the Congress campaign in the state by addressing a rally of farmers in Rajkot. All are waiting her reactions to the open challenge of Mr.Modi.