Congress suddenly sees through shine

Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma today charged that India Shining advertisements had been put out at ‘‘the cost of Rs 1.5 crore ...

Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma today charged that India Shining advertisements had been put out at ‘‘the cost of Rs 1.5 crore in print media’’ with the consent of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Referring to a letter from PM A.B. Vajpayee’s OSD Sudheendra Kulkarni to the Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity (DAVP) on January 28, Sharma said: ‘‘The letter states that the PMO is coordinating with various ministries on the advertisements for which the payment would be made by the ministry/department in whose name the ads are released.’’

‘‘It was a decision by the PM, of the PM, for the PM at the expense of tax-payers’ money. The government owes an explanation on this,’’ Sharma said.

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The party which was reluctant to take on the PM Vajpayee till now has turned its attention to picking holes in his conduct and politics. This began with party challenging the BJP to a public debate over Vajpayee’s promise of creating one crore job opportunities every year.

On February 22, the Congress held the PM responsible for thrusting early Lok Sabha polls on the nation charging that the polls could have been held along with either the just-concluded Assembly elections or on schedule in October.

Similarly, party leader Ahmed Patel had attacked Vajpayee on February 26 for his ‘‘doublespeak’’ at the meeting of minority cell of the BJP.

Yesterday, spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi had said Vajpayee was a ‘‘Jekyll and Hyde personality’’ because of his flip-flop on Ayodhya, Gujarat riots and minorities.