Despite being under intense fire for his anti-Sonia Gandhi comments, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today kept up his attack on the Congress president saying that if newspaper reports on the expenditure incurred on her foreign trip were wrong, why did the Congress not take any legal action.
Reacting to criticisms by Congress leaders, Modi asked why did the party not take action against the vernacular daily over report that Rs 1,880 crore were spent on Sonia Gandi's foreign trips and treatment abroad over three years.
Modi also said that the government could spend as much on her treatment as it was a humanitarian cause but if people wanted to know details of the expenditure incurred then the centre should reveal it.
Modi alleged that the Congress president was getting all facilities like special flight, which were meant only for the prime minister and president of India.
Asking if the central government had given a special status to Sonia Gandhi, Modi said the money spent on her was being spent from the public exchequer.
Reacting strong to Modi's statement, Congress leader Digvijay Singh hit out saying that the Gujarat chief minister has been trained by the RSS in the 'Nazi tradition' of false propaganda, PTI reported.
"It shows that they are doing politics on someone's illness also. I don't expect an apology from a person who after getting killed so many people didn't care to apologize," Singh said.
"First of all, it should be investigated that who gave this news to Narendra Modi. He said some newspaper published it, but the editor says they never published any such news. As far as Soniaji's treatment and tours are concerned, there is nothing to hide," he added.
"After the denial by the Hisar-based RTI activist, we cannot help but conclude that what the former chief minister of Gujarat, Keshubhai Patel, had been saying all along is correct. The current chief minister of Gujarat has based his politics on a foundation of falsehood; he believes that innuendo, baseless insinuations, rumours, is the method of doing politics," he said.
Addressing a public rally in Jesar, 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."
Modi alleged that despite being just a MP, Gandhi is getting privileges meant for the President and Prime Minister, like a special aircraft.
"From the money spent there, we can produce electricity for the whole Gujarat state," he said.
Narendra Modi on October 1, night offered to tender a public apology if his allegation that Rs 1,880 crore was spent from state exchequer for Congress President Sonia Gandhi's foreign trips is found to be false, hours after he made the claim.
"I had said this thing based on the report of a newspaper. If my information is wrong, today I say that I will publicly accept this mistake", Modi said addressing a rally in Junagadh.
However, a number of reports are contradicting what Modi said, including the RTI activist himself who has gone on record to say that he is yet to receive a response from the government on his plea and so the question of his giving anything to media does not arise.
Earlier in the day, Modi, addressing a rally at Jesar, targetted the Congress president by claiming that Rs 1,880 crore has been spent from the public exchequer for her foreign trips.
However, the youth Ramesh Sharma questioned the figures by Modi and said he had not received any reply to his RTI query.
Speaking at Jesar, 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".
"This clearly means that more than the total yearly budget of Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh and Rajkot Municipal Corporation combined has been spent only on the foreign trips of Sonia Gandhi and on her luxury hotel stays," he added.
"I want to ask the Delhi Sultanate what is the compulsion that they have to allow this uncontrolled spending of poor people of the country," Modi told the rally as part of his month-long pre-Assembly election tour of the state.
Ramesh Sharma, the Right to Information (RTI) activist questioned Modi's claim that Rs 1,880 crore were spent from state exchequer for UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi' foreign trips.
"The figures Mr Modi has given on October1, is Rs 1,880 crore. The government has not given any response to it. I never got any such information from the RTI I had filed. I have not got any figure of Rs 1,880 crore. I don't know where Mr Modi is referring to it", Verma said from Hisar.
"I can say that that I haven't got any figure of Rs 1,880 crore because I haven't received any information...", he added.
He claimed he was never contacted by Modi.
Congress dismissed Modi's charge as "falsehood" and said "it is regrettable that the chief minister of Gujarat has resorted to blatant lies which now stand exposed after the revelations of the Hissar based RTI activist to divert the attention of the people of Gujarat from the real issues confronting the state.
The reality is that the CM of Gujarat has no answer to the charges made by the MP's of Gujarat in a representation to the CVC that Rs 1 lakh crore have been plundered over the past 11 years in 17 different scams," Tewari said.
Modi said the people of Gujarat would be well served to look beyond the Gobellian false hoods which are the raison de etre of the BJP's political existence.
Reacting to criticisms by Congress leaders, Modi asked why did the party not take action against the vernacular daily over report that Rs 1,880 crore were spent on Sonia Gandi's foreign trips and treatment abroad over three years.
Modi also said that the government could spend as much on her treatment as it was a humanitarian cause but if people wanted to know details of the expenditure incurred then the centre should reveal it.
Modi alleged that the Congress president was getting all facilities like special flight, which were meant only for the prime minister and president of India.
Asking if the central government had given a special status to Sonia Gandhi, Modi said the money spent on her was being spent from the public exchequer.
Reacting strong to Modi's statement, Congress leader Digvijay Singh hit out saying that the Gujarat chief minister has been trained by the RSS in the 'Nazi tradition' of false propaganda, PTI reported.
"It shows that they are doing politics on someone's illness also. I don't expect an apology from a person who after getting killed so many people didn't care to apologize," Singh said.
"First of all, it should be investigated that who gave this news to Narendra Modi. He said some newspaper published it, but the editor says they never published any such news. As far as Soniaji's treatment and tours are concerned, there is nothing to hide," he added.
"After the denial by the Hisar-based RTI activist, we cannot help but conclude that what the former chief minister of Gujarat, Keshubhai Patel, had been saying all along is correct. The current chief minister of Gujarat has based his politics on a foundation of falsehood; he believes that innuendo, baseless insinuations, rumours, is the method of doing politics," he said. Modi alleged that despite being just a MP, Gandhi is getting privileges meant for the President and Prime Minister, like a special aircraft.
"From the money spent there, we can produce electricity for the whole Gujarat state," he said.
Narendra Modi on October 1, night offered to tender a public apology if his allegation that Rs 1,880 crore was spent from state exchequer for Congress President Sonia Gandhi's foreign trips is found to be false, hours after he made the claim.
"I had said this thing based on the report of a newspaper. If my information is wrong, today I say that I will publicly accept this mistake", Modi said addressing a rally in Junagadh.
However, a number of reports are contradicting what Modi said, including the RTI activist himself who has gone on record to say that he is yet to receive a response from the government on his plea and so the question of his giving anything to media does not arise.
Earlier in the day, Modi, addressing a rally at Jesar, targetted the Congress president by claiming that Rs 1,880 crore has been spent from the public exchequer for her foreign trips.
Addressing the Jungadh rally, Modi said a response given by the government to an RTI application of a youth of Hisar in Haryana, published in a newspaper on July 12 this year, was the basis for his claim.
However, the youth Ramesh Sharma questioned the figures by Modi and said he had not received any reply to his RTI query.
"This clearly means that more than the total yearly budget of Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh and Rajkot Municipal Corporation combined has been spent only on the foreign trips of Sonia Gandhi and on her luxury hotel stays," he added.
"I want to ask the Delhi Sultanate what is the compulsion that they have to allow this uncontrolled spending of poor people of the country," Modi told the rally as part of his month-long pre-Assembly election tour of the state.
Ramesh Sharma, the Right to Information (RTI) activist questioned Modi's claim that Rs 1,880 crore were spent from state exchequer for UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi' foreign trips.
"The figures Mr Modi has given on October1, is Rs 1,880 crore. The government has not given any response to it. I never got any such information from the RTI I had filed. I have not got any figure of Rs 1,880 crore. I don't know where Mr Modi is referring to it", Verma said from Hisar.
"I can say that that I haven't got any figure of Rs 1,880 crore because I haven't received any information...", he added.
He claimed he was never contacted by Modi.
Congress dismissed Modi's charge as "falsehood" and said "it is regrettable that the chief minister of Gujarat has resorted to blatant lies which now stand exposed after the revelations of the Hissar based RTI activist to divert the attention of the people of Gujarat from the real issues confronting the state.
The reality is that the CM of Gujarat has no answer to the charges made by the MP's of Gujarat in a representation to the CVC that Rs 1 lakh crore have been plundered over the past 11 years in 17 different scams," Tewari said.
Modi said the people of Gujarat would be well served to look beyond the Gobellian false hoods which are the raison de etre of the BJP's political existence.
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