'Clown prince' vs 'court jester': BJP-Congress spat gets uglier
New Delhi, Sep 20 : The war of words between the BJP and the Congress over the Rafale deal and bank NPAs got uglier on Thursday with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley calling Congress President a "clown prince" and in turn getting dubbed a "court jester" by the grand old party.
Countering Congress' relentless attack on the Narendra Modi government over the France-made jets and bad loans of banks, Jaitley took to the social media to accuse Gandhi of "concocting lies" on the twin issues and blamed him for "polluting" public discourse.
"His strategy is simple, concoct a lie and repeat it as many times as possible," said Jaitley dismissing as false Gandhi's claims of Prime Minister Modi waiving off Rs 250,000 crore of 15 industrialists.
"The world's largest democracy must seriously introspect whether public discourse should be allowed to be polluted by the falsehood of a ‘clown prince'," he wrote.
Jaitley said the amount referred to by Gandhi was lent by the banks prior to 2014 during the UPA regime, which then "kept rolling over the loans to conceal them (as) loans despite the default".
"The truth is that your government allowed the banks to be looted," alleged Jaitley.
The Congress lost no time in getting back at the Finance Minister.
"Jaitley is desperate in his attempt to stay relevant as a court jester to Modi Sultanate. Abuse, diversion and deception are the desperate tools of a ‘Lying -Jait-LIE'," Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a statement.
The Congress demanded Jaitley to coherently answer politically-relevant issues instead of "hiding behind the cloak of expletives for the opposition".
It posed 10 questions to Jaitley on the "Rafale scam" that include as to why Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) was "superseded" for Rs 30,000-crore contract to benefit cronies, why transfer of technology was "sacrificed" and why "national security was compromised" by reducing the number of aircraft from 126 to 36.
"Since your answers to the 10 questions are zero, cuss words are your only refuge," said the party which has been gunning for the Modi government over the Rafale deal which according to the party has caused "loss" to the exchequer and "endangered" national security.
Besides approaching Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishi for a special and forensic audit and demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the deal, the Congress has also sought the resignation of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the issue.
Alleging Modi government's "collusion with bank looters", the Congress also posed five questions on the issue of surging bank NPAs (non-performing assets).
Countering Jaitley assertions of NPAs being a UPA legacy, the Congress pointed to Finance Ministry's July 2018 reply in Parliament claiming "NPA's stood at Rs 2,51,054 crore when demitted power and they have increased to a whopping Rs 9,61,962 crore by March 2018. NPA's now stand at Rs 12,00,000 crore".
Wondering if Jaitley lied in his blogpost or in Parliament, the Congress dared him to publicly state the amount of loans given in the last 52 months of the Modi government along with details as to how much of those loans have become NPAs.
"How much worth of loans were ever-greened and restructured. How much worth of loans became defaults and wilful defaults. How many wilful defaulters escaped from India and with how much amount of money during 52 months of Modi government?" the party said.
"How many economic offenders, defaulters and looters did you bring back to India and jailed?" the party said yet again attacking Jaitley over his "meeting" with now fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya.
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“Full prepared..going to win,” Congress MP KC Venugopal ahead of Kerala polls
EC not functioning as a neutral institution: Venugopal
Congress MP K. C. Venugopal on Monday raised concerns over the election schedule announced by the Election Commission of India for the upcoming Kerala Assembly election, questioning the timing of the poll dates and alleging that the schedule leaves limited time for campaigning.
Speaking to news agency ANI in Delhi after the poll panel announced elections in five states and Union Territories, Venugopal said that the Congress and the United Democratic Front (UDF) are fully prepared for the elections and confident of victory. At the same time, he questioned the pattern of dates announced by the Election Commission.
“We are fully prepared, we are going to win the elections... You can see how the Election Commission has set the dates. The first phase of elections is on the 9th, nominations are due until the 23rd, scrutiny is on the 24th, nominations can be withdrawn until the 26th, and after that, there are 11 days for campaigning,” he said.
“As for Kerala, there is Easter and Good Friday in the first week...The Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier... The counting date is on May 4th, so what was the point of holding elections in Kerala so early? What is their intention behind holding elections on the same day in Kerala, Puducherry, and Assam?... We are confident that we will win, but the people of the country are seeing the biased attitude of the Election Commission...,” he added.
He further stated that his party was ready for elections irrespective of the dates announced by the poll body.
“We are going to win the election. India's strategy has been set up. And we are all ready for winning this election. But one thing as far as declaring election, even though they are giving only for five days, we are going to win the election. We have no problem,” he said.
Detailing the poll schedule while questioning the time available for campaigning, he stated, “but you can see the pattern of date which the election commission announced. Yesterday they declared election, and today they notified us. The first phase of election on April 9th, filing of nomination will be over on the 23rd of this month, 24th scrutiny, 26th withdrawal of nomination. After 26, four plus seven, 11 days campaign.”
“As far as Kerala is concerned, April first week is a holy week. The holiday week means, Good Friday is there. Nobody will do anything on Good Friday. Easter is the big festival. These festivals are natural, you have to see that. Among the 11 days, working days, two, three days will go for holidays. Then hardly seven, eight days for campaigning in this election for candidates,” the Congress MP questioned.
The Congress leader said the Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier if there was a need for an early election schedule.
Questioning the urgency behind placing Kerala in the first phase of polling, he added that the counting date is much later.
“Which is the date of counting? Fourth May. Then what is the urgency of putting Kerala in the first phase without giving sufficient time for candidates? And putting Kerala, Puducherry, Assam together, what is the intention behind that?” Venugopal questioned.
He also alleged that the Election Commission was not functioning as a neutral institution.
“The Election commission is completely losing that capacity as a neutral player. You can see 14 of our prime minister's programs over and on the 15th they announce the election, 16th notification comes,” he said.
Venugopal further stated that such tactics would not affect the Congress’ prospects in the election.
“They think that this type of techniques and tactics, because of these techniques and tactics, UDF is going to lose, and Congress is going to lose. This is their complete dream only. This is not going to happen. We are very much confident at any cost, whether they are not giving any time also, we are going to win the election,” he said.
“But the people of India are watching this. The tricks of the election commission. To restrict the campaign, people of India are watching. This I want to bring into the notice of the nation. That's all,” Venugopal said.
The Election Commission of India on Sunday announced the schedule for the Kerala Assembly election. Polling in the state will be held in a single phase on April 9 while the counting of votes is scheduled to take place on May 4.
