New Delhi:
After his claim of nearly 1900 crores being spent by the government on Sonia Gandhi's foreign trips rang hollow, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has tweaked his attack. He says the Congress, Mrs Gandhi's party, must explain why it has not shared the expenses on her trips, solicited by a Right to Information activist. He also asked why the Congress has not taken legal action against a vernacular daily that first claimed the bill for Mrs Gandhi's trips adds upto 1880 crores.
That newspaper's editor, on Tuesday, said he based his information on "local wires" or news agencies but was not able to share more information. The story he ran said that a Right to Information activist had unearthed the details of the expenses. Except that the activist says that's not true. Ramesh Verma of Haryana says that two years ago, he asked the government to share how much has been spent on Mrs Gandhi's foreign trips in the last 10 years. He has yet to receive a response, even though the Chief Information Commissioner had directed the Prime Minister's Office to reply to him. Neither the government nor the Congress was able to explain why.
Mr Verma issued his first denial on Monday, forcing Mr Modi to announce that he will publicly apologise if his allegation is proven untrue. Mrs Gandhi is scheduled to visit Gujarat today to launch her party's campaign ahead of the state elections.
Adding a new confused dimension to the controversy, both the BJP and the Congress keep referring to the expenses on Mrs Gandhi's trips abroad for medical treatment. That's not what the RTI activist asked for. "We also give good wishes for the health of Sonia Gandhi, but if expenses were paid from the public treasury, please clarify," Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP spokesperson, said.
(Read) Congress leader Digvijaya Singh retaliated. "As far as Sonia
ji's trips are concerned, everyone knows about her health issues. His (Modi) comments are reflective of his own character and his party." He added that Mr Modi has been well-trained by his party's parent body, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in "the Nazi tradition of spreading false propaganda."
"Sangh trains it's cadre in disinformation campaign. Obviously Modi has been trained well! Sangh has modelled itself in the Nazi tradition," Mr Singh said on micro-blogging site Twitter.