Stand for credibility of promises under PM Modi, Congress for crisis: BJP

The BJP on Saturday asserted that it stood for credibility of promises made to people under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership and the Congress for crisis of credibility, as the ruling party fired a fresh salvo at its rival in a war of words between them over unkept poll pledges.

BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi told reporters that the ruling party had gradually stepped up the scope of its welfare schemes, ranging from health insurance to free grains and cash transfer for farmers, by resorting to first creation of wealth followed by its distribution as the size of the Indian economy grew over the past decade.

 

"We believe in first the creation of wealth and distribution. The Congress stands for creation of corruption and destruction of wealth," he said, citing a host of alleged unfulfilled promises of Congress-led governments in different states.

A day after Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that "Modi ki guarantee" was a cruel joke on people after the prime minister had seized on the Congress president's advice to his state colleagues that they should be guided by budgetary constraints in making poll announcements, the BJP made a fresh charge.

Was Kharge speaking the truth on Friday or a day before, Trivedi said mockingly, suggesting that the Congress president's attack on the BJP was made under pressure to cover up for what he had said earlier.

Trivedi cited the construction of the Ram temple, abolition of Article 370, construction of more than 14 crore houses for the poor, opening of over 51 crore Jan Dhan accounts, and India's tough stand against Pakistan on terrorism under Modi to assert that his government had walked the talk.

As a veteran Congress member who has served in senior positions, Kharge has seen leaders such as PV Narasimha Rao and Pranab Mukherjee, who deftly handled the economy under difficult circumstances, and is now seeing the party under the grip of urban Naxals due to Rahul Gandhi's influence, Trivedi said.

Rebutting Kharge's charges on a host of issues, Trivedi said EPFO (Employees' Provident Fund Organisation) data suggested that its account holders had grown to 25 crore compared to 11 crore a decade ago.

He also cited a host of infrastructure work, including the construction of houses for the poor, 74 airports and 37 kilometres of road per day, and asserted that all these activities had led to a lot of employment.

India is now third in auto manufacturing and second in mobile phones manufacturing and if anyone still cannot see the country's development, then there is some serious weakness in their sight and mindset, the BJP spokesperson said.

When the BJP was in power in Karnataka, it was the top state in attracting investment while Maharashtra under the Congress-led alliance's rule had slipped, he said, adding that the situation was reversed after the BJP came to power in the western state while losing to the Congress in the southern state.

"The brains of some parties are so empty that they end up emptying the treasury when in power," he said.

The Congress, Trivedi alleged, had lost the ability to govern, noting that its promise to provide one woman in every household Rs 1 lakh annually would have cost the country Rs 31 lakh crore even though its entire budget was only about Rs 27 lakh crore.

It was like a Ponzi scheme promise and could be part of a well thought-out conspiracy as the Congress believes in triggering chaos, he said.

Citing the welcome Modi received recently in the US, Russia and Ukraine from their top leaders, the BJP spokesperson said it was a testimony to the prime minister's standing.

Any attempt to belittle him will have no impact on his popularity, reputation and image, he added.

To a question, he refuted opposition MP Asaduddin Owaisi's claim on Waqf boards, saying these were not religious bodies but constituted for land management.

The recent remarks of National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah suggest that he has realised after coming to power the need to deal with anti-national forces, Trivedi said, expressing hope that the Jammu and Kashmir government under his son and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah would cooperate with the Centre to curb terrorism.

Modi said on Friday that the Congress stood "badly exposed" in front of the people for promising them what the party knew it would never be able to deliver.

The prime minister launched a fierce attack on the opposition party as he seized on Kharge's comments that the Congress' state units should make promises that were properly budgeted.

Hitting back, Congress president Kharge had said the BJP stood for "betrayal" and "jumla", alleging that lies, deceit, fakery, loot and publicity were the five adjectives that best described the Modi government.