Patna, Jul 30 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera on Wednesday claimed that an “opportunity offered by Rahul Gandhi” to dismiss US President Donald Trump’s claim of intervention during the military standoff with Pakistan was “squandered” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the debate in Lok Sabha on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor.
The Congress leader was speaking to PTI Video in Patna.
“PM Modi had a golden opportunity to dismiss the claim of Donald Trump of intervention during the military standoff with Pakistan. The opportunity was offered to the PM by our leader Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha. The opportunity was squandered by the PM,” he added.
“Our leader (Rahul Gandhi) had asked just one question, but the way PM Modi replied, it showed that the latter had no answer,” Khera claimed.
PM Modi on Tuesday asserted that no world leader had told India to stop Operation Sindoor as he lashed out at the Congress for “importing issues from Pakistan”.
Replying to an over 16-hour discussion in Lok Sabha on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, Modi rebutted the Opposition’s charge over Trump’s repeated claims of mediating “ceasefire”, saying he had told US Vice President J D Vance on the night of May 9 that Pakistan will pay dearly for any attack on India.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, during the Operation Sindoor debate in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, accused Prime Minister Modi of using the armed forces to protect his image after the Pahalgam attack on April 22 and dared him to rebut Trump’s claims of brokering the ceasefire.
“If Modi ji has even 50 per cent of the courage that Indira Gandhi had, then clearly he must say in Parliament – Donald Trump is lying,” he told the Lok Sabha.
Khera, further referring to the recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) that was tabled in the state assembly, claimed that the report has established the fact that the NDA government in the state had “committed a scam of over Rs 70,000 crore”.
“The NDA government in the state claimed that bridges were built, 24/7 electricity and education and employment are being provided. Yet the common people have no idea because the government has no record of it. This shocking fact was revealed in the CAG report,” he claimed.
The report of the CAG on state finances for the year 2023-24 was tabled in the state assembly last week.
“Despite the requirement of submitting utilisation certificates (UCs) within a stipulated time period, 49,649 outstanding UCs of Rs 70,877.61 crore were not received by the Accountant General (Accounts & Entitlements), Bihar, as on March 31, 2024,” the report had said.
The high pendency of UCs is fraught with the risk of embezzlement, misappropriation and diversion of funds, it had added.
Khera said, “Various departments of the Bihar government have not submitted utilisation certificates for Rs 70,000 crore, yet the state appears to have spent this amount. Nearly one-third of Bihar’s total budget — around Rs 70,000 crore — has mysteriously disappeared under the joint governance of Modi and Nitish. These funds could have significantly contributed to the state’s development.” He added that when people see dilapidated bridges, crumbling government buildings, and failing infrastructure in Bihar, they should remember this “Rs 70,877 crore scam”.
Khera said that by March 31, 2024, Bihar government departments had failed to submit 49,649 utilisation certificates (UCs) for a total amount of Rs 70,877.61 crore.
“In Independent India’s history, such massive robbery has never been recorded — this BJP-JD(U) government has looted the rights of the poor, a whopping Rs 70,000 crore,” he alleged.
Furthermore, the BJP-JD(U) government in Bihar did not even utilise Rs 3,59,667 crore from the allocated budget over the past five years.
“Alarmingly, nearly 40 per cent of this unspent amount was for centrally sponsored schemes aimed at social welfare. The BJP-JD(U) government has been caught in deep-rooted corruption, affecting even departments responsible for children’s education, SC/ST and OBC welfare, farmers, and urban development. The CAG suspects embezzlement of funds,” the Congress leader claimed. PTI SSS NAC PKD ACD
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