he Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday stood by the controversial claims of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi that funds from the public exchequer were spent on travel and treatment abroad of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and asked Congress to come clear on it.
Modi himself stuck to his contention that the government make clear if Rs1,880 crore were spent from the public exchequer on Gandhi's treatment in the US, even though the RTI activist on whose basis he made the claim questioned the figures cited by Modi and said he had not received any reply to his RTI query.
"We condemn the Congress party's approach in diverting and adding issues which have not been raised by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. He has very clearly quoted media sources and raised a question. If you are genuinely interested in answering the question, you would say what was the amount spent," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.
After levelling the allegations on Monday, the Gujarat Chief Minister had offered to tender an apology hours after making the allegation if his charge was found to be false. "If it was not Rs 1,880 crore, then what was it, just say. If money was not spent from public exchequer, say so. What stops you from answering this question," Sitharaman said.
Alleging that Congress was resorting to diversionary tactics to avoid answering these questions, by saying that it is a personal matter related to Gandhi's health, the BJP spokesperson said, "We also give good wishes for the health of Sonia Gandhi but if expenses were paid from the public treasury, please clarify."
Dismissing Modi's charge as "falsehood", Congress said it is regrettable that the Gujarat CM has resorted to "blatant lies" which now stand exposed after the disclosure by RTI activist Ramesh Verma.
BJP alleged that it is Congress which has added the health issue to the Opposition's demand that the expenses incurred on Gandhi's travel for treatment be made public and whether it was made from the public exchequer.
"Did those who use the merchant of death statement think that it is a classic statement? Who brought up the health issue when the question was raised about the travel expenses of Sonia Gandhi? Why did they feel the need to join the two issues? Are they doing it to get sympathy or to give a direct reply?" Sitharaman said.
She sought to know as to why the RTI activist has not been given a reply though more than two years have passed since he filed a request.
Congress spokesman Manish Tewari has said Modi had made the allegation to divert the attention of the people of Gujarat from the real issues confronting the state.
"The reality is that the Chief Minister has no answer to the charges made by the MPs of Gujarat in a representation to CVC that Rs 1 lakh crores have been plundered over the past 11 years in 17 different scams," Tewari has said.
An unfazed Modi said at a programme in Gandhinagar that not replying to the RTI query gives the impression that there is something fishy.
"I read in a newspaper that Rs 1,880 crore was spent on Soniaji's foreign trips...nearly Rs 2,000 crore, if you have to shut Modi's mouth, then make public details about Sonia Gandhi's foreign tours, from the time Manmohan Singh's government came to power in 2004, till now," Modi demanded.
"Under what arrangement she travelled...where did she stay ....and if the expenditure...I have nothing to do with her personal life.... was borne by the national exchequer, then it is the right of people of this country that information about it should be made public," Modi said.
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