UPA's record of commemorating Sardar Patel better than NDA's: Tewari

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Friday took on BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, saying the Congress-led UPA Government's record of commemorating India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is better than the NDA.

Tewari said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged that the UPA Government released ads only after pressure created by them, but the truth is totally opposite of this.

"From 1998 to 2004, when there was the NDA Government. Then neither in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 when Vajpayeeji was the Prime Minister, they issued any advertisements to commemorate Sardar Patel," Tewari told media here.

"On the contrary, when the UPA Government was formed in 2004, from 2004 to 2013 leaving 2008 every year advertisements were published to commemorate Sardar Patel," he added.

Tewari further took a jibe at Modi, and said the big question that arises here is that the individual who is aspiring to become the Prime Minister makes false statements which are not at all based on facts.

The Information and Broadcasting Minister's comments came a day after Modi claimed that the UPA Government has been forced to take out advertisements in newspapers to mark Sardar Patel's birth anniversary due to the Gujarat Government's move to build a massive statue of India's first Home Minister.