Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma has said it was the collective failure of the Government in not communicating and rebutting the “false” allegations made against it.
“I am a minister, I share the collective responsibility.
It was the duty of each of us to step out and rebut what was being falsely (said about us). May be we should have countered this... Assault on the Government and Congress was based on pack of untruth and lies,” Sharma told PTI.
He was responding to criticism of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by Congress leader P C Chacko who had said Singh had failed to interact with media on various issues.
“We allowed by default a negative narrative to be built around us,” he said.
On whether it was a mistake on the part of Congress not to declare their Prime Ministerial candidate before general elections, Sharma said that his party does not believe in this practice as it is an insult to the electorate.
“We are a parliamentary democracy. You have a Government in office. You have to wait for the electoral outcome. You can not be arrogant and insulting to the electorate to declare a PM candidate,” he said.
Sharma, who is also commerce and industry minister, slammed BJP for announcing its Prime Ministerial candidate nine months before the elections.
“We do not believe in that. This is not the right thing,” he added.
Offering to debate with BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on any issue at any time, the minister said Modi has no comprehension about Indian economy and global affairs.
“He is not even half literate on these issues,” Sharma added.
Further he dismissed the suggestion that Congress is not fighting the election to win.
“We do not have to go to the Red Fort or Qutub Minar to declare that we are fighting to win. Of course, we fight elections to win,” Sharma said.