Sonia slams Modi government in LS over 'transparency, good governance'

Leading her party in the Lok Sabha in attacking the PM and the Centre, she said: "The PM made many promises to the people on transparency and good governance. In a blatant u-turn, his government, through the absence of a CIC has made sure that the highest offices are not accountable under the RTI Act."

"Information delayed is information denied. This is simply not acceptable," she said.

"Government has shown a deplorable lack of interest in punishing people responsible for delays in public services....Government is setting out to systematically subvert the functioning of the RTI Act," Gandhi said.

Gandhi, who is also the Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, is expected to  seek a discussion on the "failure of the institutional mechanism" in the country, with reference to key constitutional posts lying vacant since the Narendra Modi government came to power a year ago.

Just before Parliament assembled for the day's session, Sonia assailed  Prime Minister Narendra Modi for criticizing previous governments during his visit to Canada last month.

"This outrageous remark on foreign soil belittles the dignity of the office he holds and is an embarrassment to the nation,"  she  said

Addressing the Indian diaspora in Toronto during his recent three-nation visit,the  PM  had said, "My mission is to turn scam India to skill India." He has been excoriated by the opposition, including the Congress, for saying: "My job is to ensure that India is cleaned up. It will take time to clean up the mess of the past."

Reacting sharply, Sonia Gandhi said the Modi government is "against whatever the Congress party stands for."

She alleged that while the Prime Minister announced "grandiose schemes", his finance minister cut budgetary allocation to key departments and granted benefits to corporates.

"The economy is faltering, exports are falling," she said while urging her party leaders to take the fight to the people.