New Delhi: Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “misleading” people on the black money issue, Congress today demanded an apology from him as it also kept the government on tenterhooks on the Insurance Bill.
Party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said that while BJP used to attack the UPA government on the black money issue and Modi promised money from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 15 lakh to each individual if black money is brought back, it has “gone back” on these remarks.
“Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was then BJP president, used to promise to bring black money within 100 days of the government coming to power. But in its affidavit filed before the Supreme Court on the black money issue, government had just repeated the earlier stand of Congress,” he said.
“The Prime Minister, who rarely comes to Parliament, should tell the House why he misled the nation and the people. He should seek an apology from the nation on the black money issue,” he told reporters here.
Asked about the party's stand on the government's bill that seeks to raise FDI in insurance from 26 to 49 per cent, Ahmed recalled that BJP had opposed it when the UPA government had brought the proposal.
“We will spell out our stand when the draft (of the bill) comes. But we will definitely ask why did they oppose it then when the measure was benefiting the nation,” he said, adding that the government had resorted to a similar thing on the GST issue as it is bringing the bill on it now after BJP opposed it truth and nail while in Opposition.
To a question on whether Congress has moved adjournments of the Question Hour to discuss the issue, Ahmed feigned ignorance saying party's Parliamentary board is seized of the matter.
He, at the same added, “Congress can ask for adjournments on the issues that simply reflect the double standards of the government on the issue.”
The issues of black money and insurance have rocked the functioning in Parliament in this session.
