Nagpur: On the eve of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Sevagram, Wardha, on Tuesday, the party launched a scat-hing attack on the BJP and termed it a replica of the British Raj. The CWC meeting coincides with the 150-th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The Congress said that the BJP was indulging in loot and lies and terrorising the people, which was exactly what the British did during their 150 years’ reign. AICC communication head Randeep Surjewala accused Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi of leading the country to disaster and alleged that public sector ban-ks had been defrauded no end during the four years of the BJP-led NDA government.

He said that the BJP was helping crony capitalists to run away with cash from banks. It was in the BJP’s DNA to exploit the downtrodden, women, tribals and dalits, the party claimed. The Congress reiterated its GST and demonetisation charges. The BJP was misusing the official machinery of the CBI, ED, police and intelligence to suppress the Opposition, it alleged.

On the Rafale issue, Mr Surjewala demanded that Mr Modi answer a simple question: Why it had chan-ged the requirement of aircraft from the earlier 126 to 36, and repl-aced government-own-ed Hindustan Aeron-autics Ltd  with a private company.