Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attacked the Congress party as the government released a White Paper on the economic mismanagement during the UPA government and said that Sonia Gandhi acted as 'Super Prime Minister' whose leadership was the heart of the problem of mismanagement of the economy.
"Leadership was at the heart of UPA's mismanagement and corruption-driven 10 years of government. The central problem point during UPA era was a rudderless and leaderless government. Sonia Gandhi acted as the 'Super Prime Minister' as Chairperson of the NAC. NAC had unaccountable and unconstitutional powers. Why did files go to such an unaccountable and unanswerable body for approval?" Sitharaman asked.
Sitharaman said that the White Paper is a serious document that does not contain any baseless allegations and everything mentioned in it is based on evidence.
Sitharaman said that 'andolan jivis' who were members of the NAC used to prepare legislations, including Right to Food and Right to Information.
"Should that be acceptable to the members of Parliament?"
"When Dr Manmohan Singh was on a tour, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tore up the ordinance in a press conference. Wasn't that insulting the country's Prime Minister? He (Rahul Gandhi) didn't care for his own Prime Minister," she said.
Sitharaman also said under the UPA government there was "glaring mismanagement of defence" sector and its highlight was the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland scam.
"Critical shortage of ammunition & defence equipment was the main feature of 2014 when we inherited the economy. Bullet proof jackets were not available for our soldiers.
Night vision goggles were not available," Sitharaman said.
With inputs from PTI
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