Congress steps up attack on PM, terms him 'habitual liar'

Stepping up its attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his jibe at the party on a land deal concerning Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, the party Tuesday termed him a "habitual liar" and accused him of trying to mislead the people of Haryana and the Election Commission.

"The prime minister is speaking a lie. It has become a habit with him. PM is a habitual liar," Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said here.

Modi at a poll rally in Haryana Monday referred to a newspaper report and urged the Election Commission to take "appropriate action" over the Haryana government's nod to a controversial land deal between Vadra and real estate giant DLF.

Ahmed also referred to the newspaper report and said there was no violation of the pre-election Model Code of Conduct.

He said the deputy commissioner of Gurgaon had written July 16 that the mutation concerning the land deal was valid.

Ahmed said the Model Code of Conduct for the assembly polls in Haryana came into force Sep 12 and the prime minister had said that decision taken July 16 was a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

"It is a lie to the Election Commission. It is a lie to people. He is trying to befool people," Ahmed said.

Ahmed also said that the Supreme Court had in October 2013 dismissed a PIL about land deal concerning Vadra.

Answering a query on ceasefire violations by Pakistan, Ahmed said civilians were being killed and there was no full-time defence minister.

He said the prime minister frequently made tweets but had not tweeted about ceasefire violations nor was speaking about it in his speeches.

Ahmed said Modi had talked before the Lok Sabha elections about the need of having "a 56-inch chest" to deal with border violations.

"It seems the 56-inch chest has become 5.6 inches," Ahmed said.