The Congress on Wednesday said the Modi Government during its 19-month-rule has been a “failure” on all fronts, from economy to external affairs. It also accused the Modi Government of causing the “breakdown of the structures of governance”.
Hitting back, BJP said Congress was an “anti-poor and anti-development” party and cited a host of figures and schemes to project the Centre’s “success” and claimed that it had shown the “will” to fulfil its promises.
Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma accused the Centre of pursuing a politics of “vendetta” and “selectively targeting” opponents and thus it was clear that the Government’s mindset was one of “perpetual confrontation” with the Opposition.
“Insulting and belittling political opponents, pursuing politics of vendetta and selective targeting would justifiably lead one to the inference that this Government does not believe in bipartisan consensus on issues that concern India’s national interests,” Sharma said at the AICC briefing giving round up of the year.
Sharma also reacted sharply to BJP spokesperson MJ Akbar’s attack on his party for its charge that an industrialist had arranged the lahore meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif.
Sharma dubbed Akbar’s response as “churlish” and said since he has a good command over English language, he should have used his words carefully. Sharma also advised Akbar to “first make himself aware” about what diplomacy is all about before making such comments.
BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma said the NDA Government is constructing 18 km of highways on an average daily against the 2 km under the UPA and electricity generation had shown 8.5 per cent growth.
FDI has shown an annual growth of 40 per cent, he said, adding that the Government had taken a number of measures to curb corruption at the top while noting that over `2 lakh crore was earned in the spectrum allocation.
The BJP media cell head also said it increased the revenue share of States from 25 per cent to 42 per cent as recommended by the 14th Finance Commission. “Over 65 of the 85 projects stalled under Congress-led UPA Government has been revived by our Government. The Prime Minister with his efforts has been able to change how India and Indians are viewed in the world,” he said.
