Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who launched the National Monetisation Pipeline on Monday, today avenged the INC leader Rahul Gandhi for his criticism over the latest scheme. “Does he (Rahul Gandhi) understand what monetisation is? It was Congress that sold the country’s resources and made kickbacks in it,” issued news agency Press Trust of India as a quotation from Ms Sitharaman.
Mr Gandhi had trail-blazed the Congress backlash on the government as opposition over the monetisation plan, by quoting that “It helped Prime Minister Narendra Modi sell the country’s crown jewels, built over 70 years with public money, to his industrialist friends.” The privatisation list is of assets built by successive Congress governments, which the BJP is now selling to cover up their mismanagement of the economy, the Congress party said.
Yesterday, the cabinet colleague of Ms Sitharaman, Union minister Smiriti Irani, also hit back the Congress and its policies and Mr Gandhi.
“In 70 years of Independence, the district the MP led (Amethi) did not even get a district hospital,” averred Ms Irani, who dislodged Mr Gandhi from family turf Amethi in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. “Their problem is that 6 lakh crore rupees will come from this disinvestment. That’s why they are having trouble,” she added.