NEWS

New Delhi: The BJP has accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of adopting "big lie technique" in his attack on the government over the Rafale fighter jet deal.

BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said Gandhi was taking a cue from Hitler's propaganda driven by the "big lie technique" that a lie repeated a thousand times would be taken as truth with time.

The inter-governmental Rafale deal was bound by a "non- disclosure" clause signed by the UPA government, he said, adding that Gandhi was "dishing out lies" in the hope that some muck would stick.

New Delhi: The Congress in the Rajya Sabha has raised doubts over key budgetary proposals like for the proposed health insurance scheme and setting MSP at 50 per cent above the cost describing them as "jumlas" and also accused the Centre of exaggerating data related to job creation.

Questioning one of the key highlights of the budget, which the government has projected as a pro-farmer measure, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh stated that while it has been said that the MSP would be set at 50 per cent above the cost, it had not been made clear what would be the criterion for deciding the cost of production.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid case was purely a "land dispute" and will be dealt with in normal course.

The apex court commenced its final hearings on the Ayodhya dispute yesterday. During the course of an hour-long hearing the court clarified that it was first inclined to hear those who were parties to the dispute in the Allahabad High Court.

It further said those who have tried to wade into the matter before it and seeking impleadment as parties will have to wait as the case before it was a "pure land dispute".

New Delhi: The Centre has made it clear that there is no plan to ban telecast of junk food and soft drink advertisements on television.

Responding to a question by Shiv Sena MP Chandrakant Khaire whether the government was aware of a study that held TV advertisements responsible for the rise in junk food eating habits among people, I&B minister Smriti Irani told Lok Sabha that based on the recommendations of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the health ministry had said the food industry could be asked to "voluntarily desist from advertising on children's channels".