Indore: Congress today hit back at Narendra Modi over his “suitcase” riposte to Rahul Gandhi's “suit boot ki sarkar” jibe, with senior party leader Digvijaya Singh accusing the Prime Minister of carrying “tijori” (coffer) in the form of “big industrialists” during his foreign tours.
“Modi carries “tijori” (coffer) during his foreign visits. Big industrialists accompany Modi wherever he goes during his foreign visits. These industrialists are his coffers,” Digvijaya told reporters here.
His comments came a day after Modi taunted Rahul Gandhi over the latter's “suitboot ki sarkar” dig, saying “suit boot is definitely more acceptable than suitcase,” an allusion to alleged scams under the Congress' watch. Accusing Modi of centralising powers and “belittling” his ministers, Digvijaya said, “When Modi was buying Rafale fighter aircraft in France our defence minister was buying fish in Goa.”
Digvijaya alleged the dignity of Home Minister's post is being lowered as Rajnath Singh, who heads the portfolio, is unable to send any file directly to the PMO. Earlier, addressing a function at Indore Press Club, Digvijaya accused the BJP-led NDA government of slashing the Central financial aid to states in last one year. “Under the incumbent NDA regime states are getting lesser funds than what they used to get under the erstwhile UPA government,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said only state governments should have the right over coal excavated from coal blocks which fall under their respective regions.
“Union government has the legal power to decide on the utilisation of coal excavated from coal blocks. But why should Central government have a say over it?..Only state governments should have the exclusive rights on coal quarried from their respective regions,” Digvijaya said in presence of Union steel and mining minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
