NEW DELHI: Using the CAG report which indicted the Gujarat Government, the Congress on Monday launched a scathing and direct attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that the report revealed where “the funds for his massive election campaign came from”.
Citing the report, Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil, in a tone dripping with sarcasm, said that it was now on record that the Gujarat Government “bestowed undue favours on big business houses at the cost of the State exchequer, which, in turn, funded his election blitzkrieg.” Gohil, who faces a defamation suit for raising questions over Modi’s ‘backward caste claims’, alleged that during the Lok Sabha elections, most of the BJP leaders campaigned using aircraft. “There was a 3D campaign. We used to ask from where all this money is coming. The CAG report has given the answer to it,” he said.
The CAG report had said that the State government-run Gujarat Maritime Board handed an “undue favour” to Reliance Petroleum Ltd., by allowing it to pay only half the stipulated port fees, which led to a loss of `649.29 crore. Targeting Modi with the CAG report, Gohil said, “It belongs to the period when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.”
He recalled that the BJP used to mount scathing attacks on the UPA government when similar CAG reports came in. The Gujarat government, however, said it meant nothing until the Public Accounts Committee examined it.
Gohil also hit out at the PM alleging that he “misled” Parliament regarding power supply to farmers in Gujarat. He, however, evaded a direct reply as to whether the party would take action against Modi. He said he would apprise Congress leaders in both Houses of Parliament.