Sonia Gandhi was an unconstitutional authority; controlled Manmohan Singh for 10 years: PM Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi while dismissing Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s charge that the NDA is a “one person” government, attacked her for having been an “unconstitutional authority”. Modi insisted that he “wielded power only by Constitutional means” whereas Sonia, he alleged, was an unconstitutional authority who had controlled the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the ten years of UPA regime.

In an interview to PTI, Modi said that the promised “good days” or Achhe din are here. “You tell me if there is not a single scandal, is this not achhe din?” the PM asked. He said when he assumed the office the corridors of power were littered with lobbies of various kinds and he has removed the lobbyists and thereby improved the functioning of the government machinery.

When asked about the criticism that all powers were concentrated in the PMO, Modi launched a counter attack against the Sonia-Manmohan equation during the UPA governments: “Your question is loaded. It would have been better if this question had been asked when an unconstitutional authority was sitting above the constitutional authority and exercising power over the PMO”.

Modi said that if the charge is that “we are working through constitutional channels and not listening to any extra constitutional authorities, then I plead guilty to that charge.” He underscored the point that, “the Prime Minister and the PMO are very much part of the Constitutional scheme, not outside it”.

The PM hit back at Rahul for his “suit-boot ki sarkar” jibe saying that even after a year Congress hasn’t been able to “digest” its huge defeat in the Lok Sabha polls. “The people have punished them for their sins of omission and commission.

We thought they would learn from this, but it looks as though they are proving right the earlier saying that if con is the opposite of pro, then Congress is the opposite of progress,” he said He expressed confidence that reform measures like GST and land acquisition bills will be passed in “a matter of time”.