Congress to raise WTO issue in Parliament on Monday

NEW DELHI: The Congress leadership on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for claiming that the previous UPA government had "sacrificed the interest of the common people" by signing the last Bali WTO summit and has decided to rake up this issue in Parliament.

Pointing out that Modi's statement is contradictory to what Commerce Minister Nirmala Seetharaman had told both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on her return from WTO meet , Congress has decided to hold up business in Parliament, and has demanded withdrawal of his statement.

Insisting that it was the UPA that clinched the best deal for India at the Bali summit, the Congress leadership has also charged Modi with "deliberate misinterpretation of facts" and alleged that his statement about NDA regime's success at the WTO was an orchestrated propaganda based on inaccuracies.

Terming Modi's statement on Saturday that the NDA regime alone has protected the country's poor farmers and their right to food security at the WTO as "partisan, misleading and factually incorrect," AICC spokesperson and former Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said, "His (Modi's) allegation that UPA government had surrendered India's right and farmers' interest at the Bali Ministerial of the WTO is astonishing, irresponsible and false propaganda."

"An impression has been created by the BJP-led government that it was India's principled position to protect its right to food security which forced India to take a tough stance. This is nothing but one-upmanship and a claim which is orchestrated for political gains and misleading," Sharma said in a statement.

"India fought tenaciously and succeeded in putting together a global coalition of developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America that forced the developed countries to cede ground," Sharma said.