NDA releases UPA letter, says Congress-led govt made Amethi food park unviable

New Delhi: The NDA government has released a December 2012 letter purportedly written by the Petroleum Ministry stating that it would not be able to ensure uninterrupted domestic gas supply to the mega food park in Amethi that has now been scrapped.

The letter was made public after Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi took up the issue in a big way inside and outside Parliament. He is today visiting Amethi to protest over the food park issue.

As per reports, the Petroleum Ministry under the UPA government had sent the letter to the Ministry of Food Processing.

The promoters of Shaktiman Mega Food Park wanted to set up a natural gas-based captive unit to generate power for the food park. However, in the wake of the Petroleum Ministry being unable to commit uninterrupted domestic gas supply, the promoters had threatened to pull out of the project.

The foundation stone for the project was laid by Rahul Gandhi on October 7, 2013.

Meanwhile, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who had earlier said that the project had become unviable after the UPA government refused supply of subsidised gas, today took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi saying the Congress leader doesn’t even know the exact place where the food park was to come up in Amethi.

“It took Rahul Gandhi 10 months to realise that the food park project has been cancelled,” Harsimrat Kaur said.

“When they had power, then they did nothing. Why are they speaking now?” she added.

She also took a swipe at Rahul for giving Modi government '0 out of 10', and said, “Because he (Rahul Gandhi) was a ‘zero’ so he viewed everyone as zero.”

HRD Minister Smriti Irani also slammed Rahul Gandhi, and said he hasn't done anything for Amethi.

“10 years of bad governance and one year of despair; in the last 11 years Amethi did not get anything under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi,” Smriti said.

“The speeches these days are only to counter the questions being raised in the media,” she said further, apparently hinting at Rahul Gandhi's nearly two-month-long sabbatical.