Modi goes from mann ki baat to maun vrat: Sonia
NEW DELHI: In her sharpest attack yet on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday said the “champion of Mann ki Baat appears to have retreated into a maun vrat (vow of silence) whenever there is a scandal” involving his colleagues.
Addressing a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), she also rejected the government’s offer of the Prime Minister’s intervention on a debate on the Lalit Modi issue and insisted that Parliament will function only after the resignations of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Swaraj and Raje are facing the heat for allegedly helping former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi get British travel documents while Chouhan is in the line of fire over a multi-crore recruitment and admission racket, commonly known as the Vyapam scam. “There is a mountain of incontrovertible evidence in public domain for the Prime Minister to require their resignations,” Gandhi said.
“Our stand is clear from day one. There can be no productive discussion and no meaningful proceedings as long as those responsible for gross wrong-doings remain in office,” she added.
Gandhi was unsparing on the Prime Minister who has so far addressed ten editions of his “Mann Ki Baat” radio programme on various issues. Gandhi and her son Rahul have earlier attacked Modi for his “silence” on scandals plaguing his party. “He never misses an opportunity to claim the moral high ground on transparency, integrity and accountability, but has been conspicuous by his deafening silence on blatant transgressions by his colleagues,” she said. Gandhi reminded her party MPs that the BJP was the author of the “resign-now-debate-later” principle of parliamentary practice which it had used on at least five different occasions during the ten years of UPA rule from 2004. “Today, we have to listen to sermons on parliamentary behaviour from those who not only defended but also advocated disruption as a legitimate tactic when they were in Opposition. Yesterday’s agitators have suddenly become today’s champions of debate and discussion.” The present standoff is a throwback to UPA days when the BJP as the main opposition party stalled Parliament and forced the Congress to sack two ministers – Pawan Kumar Bansal and Ashwani Kumar -- and a chief minister – Ashok Chavan in Maharashtra - over allegations of corruption.