New Delhi: The Congress hit back Thursday at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for alleging that the late Rajiv Gandhi used the warship ‘INS Viraat’ as a ‘personal taxi’ on a family vacation. The Congress said that Modi is a ‘serial liar’ who does not have the courage to fight elections on issues such as unemployment and demonetisation.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said retired Indian Navy Vice- Admiral Vinod Pasricha has clarified that the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was on an official visit on INS Viraat and not on a vacation.
“But facts don’t matter to Modi. He doesn’t have anything to talk about his own achievements. Rahul Gandhi has been challenging him for last six months now to debate on Rafale deal, demonetisation, unemployment, but Modi does not have the courage to speak,” Khera said at a press conference, here.
“We are now hearing that. Modi ji tells us that 30 years ago Rajiv Gandhi went for a holiday in INS Viraat. The Prime Minister is a serial liar. A senior official has exposed his lies today. Vice-Admiral (retd) Vinod Pasricha appeared on channels some time back and stated that this is a lie and the then PM was on an official visit and not on a holiday,” added Khera.
The Congress spokesperson said Modi is the first Prime Minister who asks for votes on his ‘failures’ and Pulwama is an example of this. “It was a big intelligence failure. We lost our soldiers due to this monumental failure in internal security,” Khera alleged.
Khera also slammed the Prime Minister for raising the Bofors issue saying it was a BJP-led government at the Centre when the Delhi High Court gave a clean chit to Rajiv Gandhi.
“It was Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government that decided against appealing the order,” he said. “We will debate on Bofors provided you are ready to debate on Rafale,” Khera asserted.
Modi, at a rally here Wednesday, accused the Gandhi family of using Indian Navy’s ‘INS Viraat’ as its ‘personal taxi’ for a holiday when Rajiv Gandhi was at the helm, launching a fresh attack on the late Congress leader days after throwing the ‘bhrashtachari No. 1’ barb at him.
