On Friday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sought an apology from Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi after Kharge remarked on the party’s poll promises.
During a statement, Kharge, the Congress president, signalled that state units of the congress should confine themselves to making fiscally feasible promises. His comments have caused much debate, especially as Congress party assurances have been useful in several state wins, such as, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. The opponents, the BJP among them, claimed that these assurances are similar to the financial bailouts that have proved detrimental to state budgets.
The BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad met the media, wherein he said that Mr Kharge’s remarks show there had been a realization that such reckless announcements should not have been made at all. He wondered whether Kharge had conveyed this new gospel to Rahul Gandhi, who had been writing about “khata khat” payments and direct transfers to the citizens. Regarding this issue, Prasad demanded that both Kharge and Gandhi apologize to the nation on behalf of the Congress party for the fake assurances given by this party.
Prasad, therefore, enumerated the policies of BJP and how different it is from the much acclaimed ‘Popular government’ of the Congress party, a party he accused of making ‘false promises’. He compared it to Indira Gandhi’s ‘garibi hatao’ slogan during the 1971 Lok Sabha elections; while it spelt a perfect electoral vendetta to the Congress party with a successful electoral counter-strategy, it did not give enough results with ultimate poor implementation in the aftermath of her campaign.
In addition, Prasad gave insight into BJP’s promises, stating that it supports only projects that have sound fiscals. In reply to the accusations, he reeled out facts that the BJP has duly implemented radical engagements like free grain distribution to 80 crore people besides several welfare programs for women in states, arguing that the BJP is fully committed to meeting its promises responsibly.
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