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Modi Govt made u-turn from the promise of good governance: Sonia

by IBNS 05 May 2015, 11:41 pm

New Delhi, May 6 (IBNS) Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday launched a frontal attack on the Narendra Modi government accusing it of making a "blatant u-turn" from its promises of transparency and good governance.

"The PM made many promises to the people on transparency and good governance. In a blatant u-turn, his government, through the absence of a CIC has made sure that the highest offices are not accountable under the RTI Act,"she said while speaking in the Lok Sabha.

"Information delayed is information denied. This is simply not acceptable," she said.

"Government has shown a deplorable lack of interest in punishing people responsible for delays in public services....Government is setting out to systematically subvert the functioning of the RTI Act," Gandhi said.

Gandhi, who is also the Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, is expected to  seek a discussion on the "failure of the institutional mechanism" in the country, with reference to key constitutional posts lying vacant since the Narendra Modi government came to power a year ago.

Just before Parliament assembled for the day's session, Sonia assailed  Prime Minister Narendra Modi for criticizing previous governments during his visit to Canada last month.

"This outrageous remark on foreign soil belittles the dignity of the office he holds and is an embarrassment to the nation,"  she  said at a weekly meeting of her party MPs, whom she has invited to dinner at her residence tonight.

"Such petty behavior does not define us. We in the Congress party are proud of our record and we will continue to fight with conviction for our ideology, programmes and policies, and for the future of our country as we always have."

Addressing the Indian diaspora in Toronto during his recent three-nation visit,the  PM  had said, "My mission is to turn scam India to skill India." He has been excoriated by the opposition, including the Congress, for saying: "My job is to ensure that India is cleaned up. It will take time to clean up the mess of the past."

Reacting sharply, Sonia Gandhi said the Modi government is "against whatever the Congress party stands for."

She alleged that while the Prime Minister announced "grandiose schemes", his finance minister cut budgetary allocation to key departments and granted benefits to corporates.

"The economy is faltering, exports are falling," she said while urging her party leaders to take the fight to the people.