Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief JP Nadda took a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after the latter shared a screenshot of an article with the headline ‘PMO denies RTI plea seeking info on PM-CARES’.
In a series of tweets, Nadda lashed out at Gandhi, and described him as "the prince of incompetence", a "loser" and accused him of "spreading fake news".
He also tweeted, “This happens when the ‘Prince of Incompetence’ shares articles without even reading them. The RTI was filed to know details of other RTIs & this is maliciously spun by you as an attack on transparency. Well, it’s natural given how your career is only based on spreading fake news.”
According to the screenshot posted by Gandhi, the RTI had sought responses for the total number of RTI applications and appeals received and disposed of by the PMO since April 2020 and the number of those applications related to the PM CARES Fund and the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF).
According to the article, the PMO responded only partially, refusing to provide information specific to the funds. It said the information sought "was not maintained in compiled form".
The Noise Around PM CARES
The PM Cares fund was set up on 28 March with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency situation, such as the one now posed by the COVID-19 outbreak, and provide relief to the affected. The prime minister is the ex-officio chairman of the fund and the defence, home and finance ministers are ex-officio trustees. The Congress and other political parties have been questioning the need for a PM Cares fund when there was already a Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF).
In July 2020, the central government also kept the Public Accounts Committee, or PAC, one of the most important parliamentary panels, from reviewing the fund, NDTV reported.
(With inputs from NDTV)
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