BJP demands PM's apology over false information on Gujarat

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday demanded an apology from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over a tweet by his media advisor, providing wrong information regarding economic development of Gujarat.

Singh's aide Pankaj Pachauri's remark on twitter got him into trouble as the figures given by him on the state's development were varying from those provided by the Central Statistical Office (CSO).

While addressing a news conference in New Delhi, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said that PM's aide was also spreading lies just like Congressmen, claiming Pachauri would have under no circumstances made such a comment without PM's consent.

"We are saddened that the Prime Minister is also involved in spreading lies like his party members. The statement made today on twitter by his media advisor, Pankaj Pachauri, that Gujarat's development is low was supported by wrong figures," said Prasad.

Pachauri had posted that Gujarat was not in the top ten state economies of the country. He also mentioned that the state governed by BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, had the slowest growth rate at 9.52 percent out of 19 states in 2012-2013.

Gujarat, according to the CSO, stands fifth in the economically developed states of the country, and follows Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. Furthermore, Gujarat's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose to 12.69 percent and not the "claimed" 9.52 percent.

Following the tweet, enraged Modi supporters demanded an apology from Pachauri for the ' misinformation'.

Meanwhile, Prasad sought apology from PMO for misleading people.

"BJP demands that the spurious statistic being used to derail Gujarat development and depict it in poor light, the PMO owes an apology," said Prasad.

However, Pachauri tried to clarify his stance by quoting a statistical website and claiming that he had picked up the data from the site.