A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the Central government of 'tarnishing the soul' of India's democracy by using Pegasus spyware, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra hit back at the Wayanad MP questioning whether why would someone spy on a person like him who is unable to "run the Congress party?"
Terming the Pegasus controversy a 'doctored motive', Patra alleged that the Opposition is giving more importance to it rather than COVID and accused it of "playing with the lives of people".
Stating that the Congress boycotts all those meetings on important issues called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP spokesperson also accused the Congress of suppressing people's voices.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Patra said, "PM Modi calls for meetings on important issues, but Congress boycotts them. You (Rahul Gandhi) are saying that a doctored motive (Pegasus) is important for us, not COVID. You are playing with the lives of people. You are suppressing the voices of people."
"If his phone has a weapon, yet he doesn't file a complaint and only does press conferences. Why would anyone spy on Rahul Gandhi? He is unable to run the Congress party. What will be gained after spying on him? Rahul ji, you should get your phone checked," said Patra.
The BJP leader further attacked the Opposition by stating that its main motive is not to make efforts to bring back the country's 'golden age' back but to settle their families and children, unlike PM Modi whose main aim is to set India on the path of development.
Further speaking about the rise of COVID cases in Kerala, Patra accused the state government's 'politics of appeasement' for the rise in COVID-19 cases in the state, adding that its decision of providing relaxations in restrictions on Bakrid led to the surge in cases.
Mentioning that the state's daily new cases of over 22,000 is more than half of the country, Patra said the Left government in Kerala went ahead with relaxations for the festival despite the Supreme Court expressing its displeasure over it.
Patra said, "The state's caseload has been rising for the last four weeks The positivity rate in Kerala has increased to 12.35 per cent. Who is responsible for that? Kerala has today reported the maximum number of cases since May 29. The Kerala government has made some mistakes."
"At the time of Kanwar Yatra, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh governments took important decisions to save the lives of the people. The directions given by the Supreme Court were also followed. The Supreme Court had also expressed concern over the relaxation given by the Kerala government for three days at the time of Bakrid. It had told the Kerala government that the decision given by it in the matter of Kanwar Yatra should be followed at the time of Bakrid. But, the politics of appeasement won and the Apex Court's suggestions were not implemented," said Patra.
The BJP leader also hit out at the Congress-led government in Rajasthan, stating that the state's Health Minister Raghu Sharma celebrated his birthday at an indoor stadium putting hundreds of lives at risk while pointing out that educational institutions continue to remain shut in the state.
( With inputs from ANI )
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