The ruling BJP in Uttarakhand Monday accused the Congress of launching a slander campaign against its candidate for Tehri Lok Sabha constituency, claiming a "lie gang" is active in the state unit of the Congress whose "main job is to concoct falsehoods to mislead voters".
Rebutting state Congress spokesperson Mathura Dutt Joshi's charge of non-performance against sitting MP Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, who has been renominated from the seat, the Uttarakhand BJP's media head Devendra Bhasin said she had asked 33 questions and participated in as many debates in the Lok Sabha.
She also played a significant role in many development projects like the Mussoorie-Dehradun ropeway and the all-weather roads project, he said.
Shah, who belongs to the erstwhile Tehri royal family, is pitted against Uttarakhand Congress chief Pritam Singh in the Lok Sabha seat.
"The lie gang of the Congress has gone into overdrive. It is concocting lies and spreading them to mislead the electorate. Recently it hurled the false charge of non-performance at our sitting MP and candidate for Tehri Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah. Accusing her of doing nothing for her constituency it said the number of questions asked by our MP in the Lok Sabha were very few," he told reporters here.
"This is part of a slander campaign by the opposition to mislead the electorate as the party knows defeat awaits it on all the five Lok Sabha seats in the state," Bhasin said.
She had 90 to 100 per cent attendance in the House during which she had raised a number of state-specific issues, Bhasin said and challenged the Congress to produce the records of its own top leaders.
"Why don't they say something about the performance of their own top leaders? Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi's attendance in the Lok Sabha was only 60 per cent and the number of questions asked by her was zero," he said.
Targeting Congress' Rajya Sabha MP from Uttarakhand Raj Babbar who also heads the party in Uttar Pradesh, the Uttarakhand BJP's media head alleged that the actor-politician was never seen in Uttarakhand after being nominated as a member of the Upper House.
Before him, another Congress MP from the state, Satish Sharma, also also did the same thing, Bhasin claimed, adding, "Winning and forgetting is the Congress' character. Instead of levelling charges against others they should look within themselves.
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