The Congress on Thursday accused the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of indulging in vendetta politics after a case was registerd in Karnataka against Sonia Gandhi for raising questions over the PM-CARES fund.
The party also hit out at the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, alleging that was it playing dirty politics by registering a case against the party's state unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and arresting him twice on Wednesday. The party also urged Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to review his decision.
"It is extremely unfortunate that at a time like this, when the world is facing a disaster like coronavirus and where in India crores of people have lost their livelihood and are forced to walk home, instead of helping them and providing for them all that you (BJP) want to do is vendetta politics.
"You are not just misusing government machinery, you are also inciting vendetta politics. We strongly condemn this," Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said at a press conference held through video conferencing.
A case has been registered against Congress president Sonia Gandhi at Sagara town in Karnataka's Shivamogga district on a complaint that @INCIndia, the official Twitter handle of the Congress, tried to create distrust among the masses with its tweet by spreading "baseless charges."
The complainant alleged that on May 11 at 6 pm, the INC India Twitter account posted messages against Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging "misuse" of PM-CARES Fund set up to enable people contribute to help the government fight the coronavirus and "similar distressing situations."
Shrinate said it was not just about the FIR against Sonia Gandhi, "this gives us an insight into how the BJP and Mr Modi operates".
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"Even at a time like this, what is important for them is vendetta politics. This is a democracy and in a democracy opposition leaders have a basic right to ask questions," she said.
Shrinate said this was a not a question on the state of affairs, but on the PM-CARES Fund, where thousands of crores have been deposited and even with so much funds available why are migrants still forced to walk and why are people still suffering.
"Why can this money not be released... every Indian wants to ask this question," she said.
About about the arrest of Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, Shrinate said, "This is political vendetta. We request that you leave aside this politics, reconsider the allegations against Ajay Lallu ji and end this politics of vengeance."
The Uttar Pradesh Congress chief was arrested twice on Wednesday -- first in Agra for sitting on a dharna to protest against UP government not granting permission to allow buses arranged for migrants by the Congress enter the state.
He was granted bail by an Agra court and released, before being rearrested by a team of Lucknow police in a second case filed here in connection with the Congress' standoff with the state government.
"This is a murder of democracy. We strongly condemn the detention of Ajay Lallu ji. The Chief Minister should reconsider this. It seems that the BJP government is indifferent to the suffering of the people," Shrinate said.
She said that "dirty politics" was being played even at the time of coronavirus pandemic. "Not only did the Adityanath government rejected our offer of help with the buses, but even sent UP Congress President Ajay Lallu in custody."
The Congress leader alleged that all charges against Lallu are ridiculous.
"In the FIR, he has been accused of causing loss to the people, which is ridiculous because he was helping people," she said.
"Everyone in Uttar Pradesh understands this dirty politics of the BJP government. Ajay Lallu ji has struggled a lot and worked hard. He is being targeted for helping the labourers," Shrinate alleged.
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