New Delhi: The Congress on Friday lashed out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani, saying he was parroting the Congress terminology in his hurry to become prime minister.

"In a hurry to be the prime minister, Advani is using our terminology, especially the four terms: inclusive growth, scholarships for the needy, improvement in agriculture and rural development," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters here.

Singhvi said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was committed to education and has earmarked Rs.7.5 billion for Class 8 to 12 students for 2008-09. "In every successive budget, the UPA government has increased the expenditure on education by 33 per cent," he said.

"Advani's use of the term 'inclusive growth' has come too late," he said.

On the BJP allegation that the UPA government has done favours by supplying gas to a company owned by Shipping and Transport Minister T R Baalu, Singhvi said, "When Advani condemns corruption in the UPA, he should realise that there is a limit to hypocrisy. There were corruption cases caught on candid camera, including the one where their sitting president was caught on camera demanding and taking money."

He further alleged that no police complaint had been lodged against the culprit for four years. "Their (National Democratic Alliance-NDA) defence minister's (George Fernandes) house was used for a defence deal," Singhvi said.

He mentioned other cases like coffin-gate (a scam in which part of the money meant for buying coffins for Kargil war martyrs was siphoned off) and the Barak missile deal where charges of kickbacks were levelled.

Source : IANS