Cong shows off Agni success to brush off paralysis tag

With the perception of a policy paralysis haunting the UPA government for some time now, the Congress wants to fall back on the successful test of Agni-5 missile as a show of its bold resolve to move ahead. HT reports.

With the perception of a policy paralysis haunting the UPA government for some time now, the Congress wants to fall back on the successful test of Agni-5 missile as a show of its bold resolve to move ahead.

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In a first sign of the party’s strategy to highlight this success amid the fluid political situation, Congress president Sonia Gandhi sent a message last evening to congratulate the scientists.

“This is a significant accomplishment that the country can be proud of,” she wrote to DRDO chief VK Saraswat on behalf of the party and UPA.

A top Congress leader said: “We are not like North Korea who tries to flex its military muscle to escalate tension.

Our missile test that comes along with an impeccable non-proliferation record, has different objectives. The timing of this test shows a lot about the courage of the government.”

While the BJP is clinching on chief economic advisor Kashik Basu’s recent remarks that major reforms will not be possible till 2014 to show that the government is suffering from policy handicap, Congress brushed aside the opposition’s allegations citing the bold step to test-fire Agni-5.

Party spokesperson Manish Tewari said, “If the BJP says that the country and the PM who went ahead to test Agni-5 missile is directionless in major policy issues, people will only laugh at them.”