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Congress claims credit for Rlys turnaround

April 24, 2009 02:43 IST

After snapping electoral ties with Railway Minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Congress today also tried to snatch away the credit of the turnaround of the Indian Railways from Prasad's pocket.

Even as Prasad, during all his election campaigns and otherwise, boasts about how he has made the Indian Railways profitable, the Congress today came out with a list of its achievements that had "direct impact upon Indians".

The list, among other things, includes record profit of the Indian Railways.

"How can one single person claim credit for running a ministry? That's a narrow approach to see things. These achievements are a result of collective decisions of the government led by the Congress," party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.

In an attempt to appeal to the urban voters, the Congress also talks about the development of Gurgaon in Haryana and Maruti cars as an effort of Rajiv Gandhi. "Rajiv Gandhi met urban developers under a tree in Gurgaon village. (It was) a turning point in urban housing development as later the PM amended laws for the urban housing sector," the Congress release says.

As the country eagerly awaits the delivery of Tata Motors' Nano car, the Congress spin doctors tried to utilise this situation to claim that it was "only a successor to the basic concept of an aam aadmi's car, invented and implemented by the Congress".

"In 1987-88, Jack Welch of GE visits India and is introduced to Rajiv Gandhi. Gandhi clears opening up of the GE office in Gurgaon, promises to help develop Gurgaon as an outsourcing hub. Outsourcing today has helped India Inc attain credibility in the world market," the Congress statement also added.

After the BJP came out with its vision statement on how it would build the infrastructure sector, the Congress today found the BJP's approach out of place and argued that the Congress was already taking care of the country's infrastructure.

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