New Delhi, May 11 (IANS) The proposed Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) of the Congress is “evidence” of the failure of its earlier governments, senior BJP leader P. Muralidhar Rao said on Saturday, while targeting the 55 years of rule by the Nehru-Gandhi family.
The BJP General Secretary also defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Corrupt Number 1” barb at late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, saying there was nothing wrong in highlighting any wrong done by the earlier governments.
Talking to IANS, Rao said the Congress, instead of feeling peeved at the Prime Minister’s comment, should debate whether or not any wrong had been done by its former Prime Minister.
“The Congress is a party which believes in deceit. They have especially deceived the poor all along,” he said.
Referring to Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s election promise of bringing NYAY scheme if the party comes to power, the BJP leader said it “is an evidence of the failure of their previous governments”.
He said during the 70 years of the post-Independence period, four generations of the Nehru-Gandhi family ruled the country for most of it.
“He (Rahul) has been compelled to give the slogan of ‘NYAY’… What were you (Congress) doing during the 55 years of rule?… Now he says poverty will be eliminated. Then let him first say that the earlier rule by his party had failed,” Rao said.
The BJP leader said Rahul Gandhi, before talking about NYAY, should “accept that the rule by (Jawaharlal) Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi failed”.
On the controversy over the Prime Minister’s “Bhrashtachari No.1” barb at Rajiv Gandhi and his reference to the aircraft carrier Viraat episode, Rao shot back: “If some wrong has been done by the earlier governments, will we not highlight it? Whatever we said, is it based on facts or not? Let us discuss that.”
He said when the Congress uses Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi for promotion, it should be ready to discuss their failings too.
“Talk about Kashmir. Why is the country still suffering? We say because of Nehru, Nehru government and his policies. It happened during Nehru’s tenure. Let us have a solution to it. Let Congress find a solution to it,” he said. Posing a question to Rahul Gandhi, he said: “You are the President of the party formed by him and you want to escape responsibility?”
Rao said whatever the PM and the BJP are saying is just the facts. “It (Viraat issue) is not something cooked up. These things were discussed even in those times and we are just highlighting those. You speak about Rajiv Gandhi’s martyrdom and patriotism, then talk about this too.”
–IANS
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