Congress attacks govt over supplementary demands for grants

The Congress attacked the government on Monday over its supplementary demands for grants saying the fondness for grand announcements and flashy statements are destroying the foundation of "old India," drawing a sharp retaliation from the ruling BJP.

"Policies of the previous UPA governments had led to the bad state of economy which the BJP inherited," BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said.

During a discussion in Lok Sabha on the supplementary demands for excess grants for 2019-20, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor accused the government of not addressing the root cause of issues but choosing to use SOPs as a temporary solution.

"Throwing SOPs because you failed to address the underlying problem is no solution at all," he said.

"I am sorry to say that underline budget that this government presented in union budget 2022-23 and supplementary grant is a story of failures, a fondness for grand announcement and flashy statements are destroying foundation of everything good and noble in old india. We will not oppose these demands because the country needs them and more but we deplore needless rigmarole that brought us to this point," he said.

He said more than 95 per cent of houses enrolled under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act have not got 100 days of work.

"And you, finance minister, chose to offer token additional funds," he said.

Tharoor also pointed out consistent reduction in allocation in rural development and social security schemes.

"If China took two inches of land we would be up in arms that they have taken mother India's territory. Here the sea has taken 64 sq km of territory in my constituency and no one is bothered...the government is not even looking into offering special economic package for the coastal community," the Thiruvananthapuram MP said.

He rued that the healthcare sector has been consistently underfunded and barely features in supplementary demands for funds.

"Aam aadmi expenditure is what is sustaining the healthcare business in our country," he said.

He said the fuel prices are kept unchanged before assembly elections and then increased.

"It is clear that oil marketing companies have to bear brunt to suit government's political convenient. This will ultimately cost taxpayers," he said.

BJP MP Dubey hit back at the Congress, stating how policies of the previous UPA governments had led to the bad state of economy which the BJP inherited.

Accusing the Congress governments of pursuing "votebank politics and politics of lies", Dubey congratulated Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the action taken to revive Air India.

"Chori aap kare aur doshi hum? (you indulge in theft and blame us?) At that time we kept telling the government to do something for Air India but nothing was done," he said.

He said that in the name of controlling petrol and diesel prices the Congress governments had issued oil bonds and now the present government has been left with its burden.

"Only Modiji thinks of 'sabka saath, sabka vikas'....during coronavirus Modiji saved 130 crore people. While in the UK, in six months three PMs changed, in China there is still lockdown and in New York all shops are closed," he said.

Listing the achievements of the present government, Dubey said they gave Ayushman Bharat Yojana to the people, AIIMS in almost all states and demonetisation which removed black money from circulation.

Calling the MGNREGA the Congress' "worst" scheme, Dubey said no other scheme had so much corruption.

Taking a dig at West Bengal which claimed that the Centre was not paying its MGNREGA dues, Dubey said the funds meant for the scheme was being diverted by the state.