PM Modi's only weapon is polarisation: Congress leader KC Venugopal

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 14: Congress general secretary KC Venugopal accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday of running away from real issues and trying to divide people, and said his only weapon in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls was "polarisation".

The Congress was raising the concerns related to jobs, agrarian crisis, women's safety, development of all, but Modi was running away from these real issues and trying to divide the people of the country, Venugopal alleged at a meet-the-press programme here.

"Modi had promised acche din (good days) to the people. This election verdict is going to be a referendum on the BJP government's performance. Modi's performance is zero. One can analyse his speeches and see that he has not mentioned anything that has been done by his government. Nothing on development, nothing on black money, nothing on farmers or jobs. His only weapon is polarisation. But he got it wrong this time. Just because it happened once, does not mean it may happen again," he said.

Raising the Rafale issue, the Congress leader alleged that the prime minister overruled the defence secretary's opinion and went forward with the agreement to purchase the French fighter jets. The defence secretary had said a direct negotiation by the prime minister would "weaken" India's position, he claimed.

Venugopal also referred to a report published in a French daily that claimed that Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications was given tax waivers.

"Who is Anil Ambani to the French government? Chowkidar chor hi hai (the watchman is indeed a thief). We have evidence. It is rare that the Supreme Court hears a review petition. But it is, now, in this case. This was because the Centre had misled the Supreme Court," he alleged.

The defence ministry has said that any connection drawn between the tax issue and the Rafale deal is totally "inaccurate" and "tendentious".

In its reaction, Reliance Communications has rejected any wrongdoing and said the tax dispute was settled under the legal framework which was available for all companies operating in France.

Venugopal said the Congress was confident of forming the government at the Centre as the strongholds of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were "trembling" after the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls.

PTI