Rahul to lead no-trust debate in LS

Rahul Gandhi is all set to lead the Congress charge against the Modi government in Friday's no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha with the party declaring that the move was less about arithmetic and more about exposing the NDA's failures in the past four years.

With numbers stacked in favour of the NDA, the Congress will utilise the opportunity to “show the mirror” to the Modi government and party strategists were fine-tuning the various aspects of its attack on the BJP.

Aware that the no-confidence motion would be utilised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to kick-off his election campaign for 2019, the Congress attempts would be to counter the BJP with facts and figures to show how the government had betrayed on the promises it made to the people in 2014.

“Our campaign is to expose them, tell the people the truth so that they are deposed for good when the general elections are there,” Congress senior spokesman Anand Sharma told reporters here.

“It is not a question of numbers or pure arithmetic, it is a larger issue that this country is in agony, and people are suffering,” Sharma said.

Congress sources said either Mallikarjun Kharge or Jyotiraditya Scindia could be fielded by the party to complement Gandhi's attack on the Modi government.

Sharma alleged that the prime minister and his government “believe in propaganda” and were unaware of the problems confronting the country and its people.

Sharma said the Congress, as well as other opposition parties, had made it clear to the government that they wanted Parliament to function so that they could demand accountability of the government on various issues.

He claimed that people in the country were “living in fear and the rule of law was not being enforced as people were being killed and beaten up for airing their views. They were also being targeted for choice of food and clothing and the atmosphere was vitiated”.