New Delhi, Aug 19: Parliamentary affairs minister Sushma Swaraj today refuted the charges levelled by the Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi in her no-trust motion, terming them as untenable and fit to be rejected. ''The government does not accept any of the charges levelled against it by Mrs Sonia Gandhi as for the first time a coalition government led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has ruled this country for the sixth year,'' she asserted, making an intervention in the debate on the no-confidence motion moved by Sonia yesterday.

She said Congress which strives on the belief that it is the only party which could rule this country has been proved wrong by this NDA government. It was possible because the NDA came to power on the basis of a pre-poll alliance, with a projected leader and definite objectives, she observed amid noisy protests from the Opposition benches.


Listing out the government's achievements, she said as against 1.86 crores telephone connection in the past 50 years, the NDA government has made available over three crore telephone connections in its five-year tenure.
She said that there is no waiting list of consumers for gas connection, with the government already providing over 3.5 crore gas connection to the people. As against this, only 3.37 crore gas connections had been previously provided.

Bureau Report