New Delhi: In a blunt attack on the Narendra Modi government, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday said truth and transparency have been brazenly tossed aside in the last five years.
Gandhi, addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting in Delhi, said bluff, bluster and intimidation have been the governance philosophy of the Modi government.
“Truth and transparency have been brazenly tossed aside. Last five years have been a time of unprecedented economic stress and social strain," she said.
Claiming that there is an all-pervasive atmosphere of fear and strife across the country, Gandhi said, "Institutions have been subverted, political opponents hounded, dissent suppressed and freedom of speech sought to be silenced. Values, principles and provisions of the Constitution are under continued attack during the Modi regime."
Congress president Rahul Gandhi also took the attack to the BJP at the CPP meeting, the last before the Lok Sabha elections.
“Congress party is defeating the BJP in ideological fight as also the daily discourse. Congress is the only party that speaks for the entire country as a united entity," he said, adding, “Unemployment, demonetisation and Rafale scam have undermined the Modi government’s credibility."
In a tweet after the meeting, he also said the government's claims on Rafale deal have been demolished, citing the Hindu report that defence ministry officials in the Indian Negotiating Team had said in a dissent note that the deal was costlier and slower on delivery than the UPA-era offer.
In his tweet, Rahul said: "The PM defended his personal Rafale bypass deal on two counts: 1) Better price, and 2) Faster delivery. Both have been demolished by the revelations in The Hindu today."
He said he would hold a press conference later in the day, after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report is tabled in the Lok Sabha.
Three senior defence ministry officials who were the domain experts on the seven-member Indian Negotiating Team (INT) came to a "well-substantiated and clear conclusion" that the Modi government's new Rafale deal for 36 flyaway aircraft was not on "better terms" than the offer made by Dassault Aviation during the procurement process for 126 aircraft under the United Progressive Alliance government, the report in the English daily said.
Citing the report, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the "theft has been caught".
Surjewala highlighted four points citing the report - price of 36 Rafale jets was 55 per cent higher than the UPA-era offer, loss incurred by not taking 25 per cent discount for Rafale as offered by Eurofighter, bank and sovereign guarantee waived and no aircraft for 10 years with escalation cost to be paid.
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