Senior Congress leader Chinta Mohan has maintained that it is the Congress party that had laid the foundation for the ambitious space programme, which is now yielding results and a series of milestone achievements, including the moon mission Chandrayaan-3.
Addressing the media after touring several mandals in Sarvepalli Assembly constituency in SPSR Nellore district on Monday, he recalled that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had set up the rocket launching centre in Sriharikota, from where several spacecraft, including the latest Chandrayaan-3, had been launched. The entire credit for the success of the moon mission should go to the scientists and not the government, he said and accused the BJP of “using the occasion to further its sectarian agenda”.
Lamenting that all sections of people were suffering because of the ‘‘wrong’‘ economic policies of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in the State, the former Union Minister said there was a dire need for the Congress party to return to power both at the Centre and the State to eradicate poverty and ensure that the benefits of the economic reforms initiated during the Manmohan Singh regime reached the poorest of the poor.