BHUBANESWAR: Congress president
Rahul Gandhi and Union minister
Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday engaged in a war of words on twitter over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise made to people of Odisha during his first visit to the state after taking over the country’s reign.
Rahul targeted PM Modi for his “broken promise” of upgrading a hospital in Rourkela and announced a fund-raising to do the same and “shame the PM”. Hours later Dharmendra Pradhan responded and said the Congress chief had manufactured a new lie.
“On 1st April, 2015 the PM played an April Fools' day joke on the people of Orissa, as seen in this video. The Congress party has begun a fund raise to shame the PM into keeping the promise he made. Please contribute generously using this link: https://contribute.inc.in/fundraiser/Odishahospital,” the Congress president tweeted.
The tweet was attached with a video of the PM’s address at Rourkela on Utkal Divas in 2015. The PM is seen announcing upgradation of
Ispat General Hospital into a super-speciality hospital cum medical college.
The fund raiser link shows the visuals and description of Muktikanta Biswal, a 30-year-old man from Odisha, who has started a walk, from Odisha to Delhi, to remind Modi of the promise he had made to the people of Rourkela.
Asking people to contribute for the hospital, Rahul writes, “If a few thousand citizens could contribute even 100 rupees each, we will be able to raise enough money to take care of the infrastructure needed for the
Rourkela hospital. Let's collect this money and hand it over to the authorities to initiate the work …. If the PM doesn't feel his promises are his responsibility, then the onus is on the citizens to ensure we look after our fellow citizens. Let them not lose faith in our democracy.”
Responding to Rahul's tweet, Dharmendra Pradhan accused the Congress president of not bothering about facts before levelling allegations.
Sources said the Centre has allotted money for upgradation of the hospital but is silent on converting it into a medical college. The Centre, however, has given in-principle approval to National Institute of Rourkela to start a medical college. Currently, Rourkela has a private medical college.
Rahul Gandhi (File photo)