PM says Congress ‘badly exposed’; Kharge calls ‘Modi guarantees’ a cruel joke

New Delhi: Narendra Modi and Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday squared off over guarantees of their respective parties with the Prime Minister claiming his rival stands “badly exposed” for promising undeliverable poll sops and the Congress president returning fire by alleging that the BJP's government is that of "lies, deceit, fakery, loot and publicity".

The face-off between Modi and Kharge took place on 'X' in the midst of Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand and bypolls in 15 states and a day after Kharge rapped Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar for “creating doubts” over guarantees and advised leaders not to announce poll promises without looking into state finances.

While Modi accused Congress governments of not paying salary on time in Himachal Pradesh and farmers being made to wait for loan waiver in Telangana, Kharge questioned the Prime Minister over the promises of two crore jobs per year, rising corruption in infrastructure projects, “clean chit” to China and “snatching” of jobs belonging to the SCs, OBCs and STs.

Prime Minister Modi used Kharge's comment to attack the Congress' guarantees and claimed that the developmental trajectory and fiscal health of Congress-ruled Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal is “turning from bad to worse”.

Particularly in Karnataka, he said, the party is “busier in intra-party politics and loot” instead of bothering to deliver on development. “Not only that, they are also going to rollback existing schemes (in Karnataka),” he claimed while adding, the Congress is “realising the hard way that making unreal promises is easy but implementing them properly is tough or impossible".

“Campaign after campaign they promise things to the people which they also know they will never be able to deliver. Now, they stand badly exposed in front of the people”, he said adding that the “so-called Guarantees lie unfulfilled”, which is a “terrible deceit” upon the people of these states.

People will have to be vigilant against the “Congress sponsored culture of fake promises”, as one saw recently how the people of Haryana “rejected their lies” and preferred a government that is stable, progress oriented and action driven, he said.

Kharge retorted, “Lies, Deceit, Fakery, Loot and Publicity are the five adjectives which best describe your government! Your drum beating regarding a 100-day plan was a cheap PR stunt!...Modi ji, before finger-pointing, please note that ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’ is a cruel joke on 140 Crore Indians!”

Kharge, also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said Modi on May 16 had claimed that he took inputs from more than 20 lakh people for the 2047 roadmap but an RTI filed in PMO “declined to put forth details, exposing your lies”. He said, “the 'B' in BJP stands for Betrayal, while the 'J' stands for ‘Jumla’".

“We have only two words for you – Modani Mega Scam and SEBI Chairperson. Looting through unconstitutional electoral bonds by extortion is BJP’s biggest financial crime. Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Vijay Mallya et al facilitated to run away looting thousands of crores,” Kharge alleged.

Questioning the management of the economy under Modi, he said economic inequality is at a 100-year-high and “rupee is at an all-time low. Is it in te ICU or in Margdarshak Mandal? Your Govt has borrowed Rs 150 lakh+ crores in the past 10 years, amounting to a debt of Rs 1.5 lakh on every Indian. MSMEs have been destroyed through demonetisation and flawed GST.”

“Everything you claim to construct is collapsing like a pack of cards – Shivaji statue in Maharashtra inaugurated by you, Delhi Airport roof, Ram Mandir leaks in Ayodhya and Atal Setu develops cracks. Bridge collapses in Gujarat (Morbi), while new bridges falling is a regular feature in Bihar! Innumerable Railway accidents have taken place, while the Minister is busy in Reel PR!" he said.

Raising questions on his promise on jobs, Kharge asked why stampedes are witnessed wherever there are vacancies for a handful of jobs, who was responsible for 70 paper leaks in 7 years and who snatched five lakh government jobs by selling stake in PSUs.