Sitharaman has all the time to inquire into religious affiliations of parties, persons: Chidambaram
P Chidambaram
Earlier, Sitharaman on Friday said that Congress wanted to fight the 2019 Lok Sabha election on religious lines and attacked Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his alleged remarks to a group of Muslim intellectuals on Wednesday.
Former finance minister and Congress leaderP Chidambaram on Saturday hit out at Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and said ''she has all the time inquire into the religious affiliations of parties and persons!''
Taking on the defence minister with a rather sarcastic tweet which implicitly referred to BJP's much vaunted surgical strikes and oftenderided Rs 58,000 crore Rafale deal,Chidambaram said: "After taming Pakistan, eliminating terrorism, stopping infiltration and acquiring Rafale aircraft, the Defence Minister has all the time in the world to inquire into the religious affiliations of parties and persons!"
He further stated that Sitharaman "says there are 'plans to incite riots in the run-up to Lok Sabha election'. She should share her secret information with the Home Minister."
Sitharaman on Friday said that Congress wanted to fight the 2019 Lok Sabha election on religious lines and slammed the Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his alleged remarks to a group of Muslim intellectuals on Wednesday.
She alleged that people are trying to instigate communal riots in the country ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. She also blamed the Congress party for trying to fan religious passions by playing communal card.
The Congress hit back at the BJP, saying Sitharaman’s remarks are aimed at creating tension in the society.
“Sitharaman is a responsible Defence Minister and her statement today is clearly in line with Prime Minister Modi’s agenda of polarising this country,” Congress spokesperson Sushmita Dev told reporters on Thursday.
Chidambaram on Friday attacked the BJP government for the slip in industrial production growth and said that retail inflation had hit a five-month high.
The senior Congress leader's comments came in the wake of reports that industrial production growth slipped to a seven-month low of 3.2 per cent in May, mainly, due to sluggish performance of the manufacturing and the power sectors coupled with poor offtake of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG).