New Delhi,
Congress president Rahul Gandhi today dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reply in Parliament as a “visionless election speech” in which he spent too much time discussing the Congress and too little discussing the future of the nation.

Gandhi, in his first formal official statement as Congress chief, said the PM skirted critical questions on lack of jobs, agrarian distress, weak national security and the Rafale deal and delivered a poll speech instead. “We expected a vision. Instead we got a visionless election speech, which did not have the gravitas or the maturity you would expect of the PM,” Gandhi said.

The Lok Sabha MP from Amethi said in a signed statement, “The truth is the PM does not know how to take India forward. That is why he always reaches into the past. We are happy with the PM to be obsessed with the Congress, but it is a disservice for our PM to spend so much time on the Congress and so little on the future of the nation.”

Gandhi today responded thrice after the PM replied to the debate on the motion of thanks on President’s address in both the Houses of Parliament. Gandhi spoke to reporters in Parliament twice and then issued a formal statement late night.

The statement questioned PM’s silence on Rafale deal with Gandhi saying, “The PM has spoken time and again about corruption and his commitment to root it out. Now when confronted with Rafale, in which he directly intervened, he is completely silent. We have asked him three questions—did he get the necessary clearances from the Cabinet Committee on Security before he negotiated and committed to the purchase of Rafale aircraft in France? How much did the PM agree to pay for each aircraft? Why did the PM bypass HAL and prefer to favour a private entity with no previous defence production experience?”

Gandhi also accused Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of reneging on her promise of answering questions about Rafale deal.