Congress questions Centre's delay in appointments of CVC, CIC

Congress on Friday slammed the Narendra Modi government for not appointing Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and Chief Information Commissioner (CIC).

"39,000 RTI applications are pending and there is not even a single officer to respond to that. Posts of three Information Commissioners have been vacant since the last year, while several central institutions such Indian Council of Medical Research are headless," senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters in Hyderabad.

"Who knows there may be so many scams against the government and misdeeds of the government," the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha alleged. On Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that runaway prices were immediately brought under control after the NDA government came to power, Azad said, there cannot be a "bigger lie than this in this century" even as he listed hike in rail fares and freight rates and items like dal, among others.

He said crude oil prices in international market now are half of what were prevailing when the UPA-II demitted office. "But the NDA government has not passed on the benefit to the consumers," he said. Azad alleged that the achievements mentioned in the open letter written by the Prime Minister on the occasion of completion of one year in office are "white lies and full of self-contradictions". "To tell white lies, you must have courage and heart. I must congratulate the Prime Minister that he has both," he said.