Cong levelling baseless charges against Modi to hide its corruption, says BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday accused Congress and its "first family" of levelling "false and baseless" allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Gujarat land deal issue to cover up its own corruption and fraud.

Calling the Congress a "history-sheeter" in levelling false allegations, the BJP said the opposition party has no moral right to talk of graft as its "top leaders are embroiled in corruption" and alleged that it is trying to again stall Parliament during the upcoming budget session.

The BJP asserted land allotments made in Gujarat during Modi's chief ministership were done as per law and through a transparent three-tier evaluation process.

"Congress is a history-sheeter in making false charges as it has a policy of shoot and scoot and has not been able to prove any charges against this government. The anti-poor and anti-development Congress is, in fact, unable to digest the progress made by the NDA government led by Modi and is thus trying to tarnish its image and stall the nation's development," BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma alleged.

"Land allotments done in Gujarat during Modi's tenure as chief minister, over which Congress is making false and baseless charges, have been made as per law and after following a transparent three-tier evaluation process. They are creating such conditions ahead of the Budget session of Parliament to stall it and stop the development process," Sharma said.

He said it reflects the "frustration" of the Congress leadership after having failed to stop Modi and his government from doing good work despite the negativity and hurdles created by the opposition.

"The Congress' first family as well many top party leaders are embroiled in corruption and fraud cases of thousands of crores of rupees and are out on bail and may go to jail anytime. These include Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, facing charges...

"Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh are also embroiled in corruption cases, besides a number of its other leaders. They have no moral right to talk on corruption. Their only aim is to stall nation's development through negative politics," he said.

Sharma said despite hurdles and negativity, the prime minister is "popular" as 58 per cent of the population still like him as per an independent survey.

Alleging that there was "plunder" of public land and forest land during Modi's tenure as chief minister, Congress leader Anand Sharma on Saturday said, "A Special Investigative Team monitored by the Supreme Court should cover all the allotments and grants of public land when Anandiben Patel was the Revenue Minister and Modi was the chief minister."