PM Modi accuses Congress of using defence deals as ATM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accused the previous Congress regimes of using defence deals as ATMs and not taking serious steps towards achieving self-reliance in defence manufacturing. While campaigning for the last phase of Lok Sabha polls in Solan in Himachal Pradesh, where the party had won all the four seats in 2014, he said the Congress was facing charges in all defence deals made during their tenure. Later, addressing a rally at Bathinda in Punjab, where BJP’s alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal faces stiff competition from the Congress, he said the Congress was struggling to win 50 seats this time.

“Defence deals were being used as ATMs by them (Congress) and they were facing corruption charges in all the deals when I went through the files after taking over the government,” he said. “There were no serious steps taken to achieve self-reliance in the manufacture of defence equipment,” Modi said in the hilly state.

He said the Congress had postponed the army’s demand for bulletproof jackets for six years.


Bathinda Rally
At Bathinda, he called Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s rebuke of Sam Pitroda for his remark on the 1984 riots, a sham. “The callous remarks has exposed the truth of the core discussions within the Congress about the tragedy. Rahul should be ashamed for appointing the accused of the riots in prominent positions in the party.