New Delhi, Aug 21: Congress today hit out at the BJP-led NDA government for its "failure" to reply to the charges levelled by leader of opposition Sonia Gandhi during the no-confidence motion and said it would go to the people across the country to "expose" the government. Party Spokesman Satyavrat Chaturvedi also announced that Congress' boycott of Defence Minister George Fernandes would continue. "The government's reply on the issues raised by Gandhi and other leaders (during the no-trust move) were unsatisfactory. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee resorted to same old concocted stories about his government's performance. They (NDA) avoided reply on issues", he said. "On the boycott of Fernandes our stand remains the same", he said when asked why the party which had been boycotting Fernandes on the Tehelka issue for about 22 months following his re-induction into the Cabinet, allowed him to participate in the no-confidence motion debate.
He said the party had been seeking satisfactory answers from the government and also the defence minister on issues raised by leader of opposition.

Chaturvedi took strong objection to the language used by ruling party members during Gandhi's speech saying those preaching morals to others should first learn to behave themselves.

He also welcomed government's move to set up a joint Parliamentary committee to probe the softdrink issue. "We want all the matters in this regard revealed. We cannot compromise with the health of the people", he said.

Bureau Report