Congress, BJP trade charges over Modi govt’s performance

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 24

The city today turned into a battleground between the Congress and the BJP as both the parties tried to expose each other before the public.

While All India Mahila Congress president and AICC spokesperson Shobha Ojha led her party’s attack on the BJP, national spokesperson of the saffron party Sambit Patra strongly defended his group and launched a counter offensive on the Congress.

Ojha, while judging the performance of the BJP-led NDA government in the last one year, alleged that the Centre was desperately trying to “saffronise” the education system by installing RSS men on important institutions.

Questioning the BJP government for slashing educational budget by Rs 14,088.59 crore and abolishing the schemes for granting central assistance for setting up of 6,000 model schools at block levels in the country, the Congress spokesperson said the Modi government shattered the educational edifice and was playing with future of younger generations.

Ojha questioned the fate of country’s educational structure when Union HRD Minister herself was found to have filed conflicting affidavits to the Election Commission of India about her academic status.

Seizing the opportunity, Ojha also tried to play the pro-Jammu card by raking up the controversy surrounding the AIIMS and artificial lake.

Accusing the BJP of cheating the people of the Jammu region, she said the people in Jammu who voted for the party were now feeling disenchanted. “Be it the issue of AIIMS or the artificial lake, the people of Jammu have been duped by the BJP, which has compromised on everything just to be in power with the PDP,” said the Congress leader.

BJP spokesperson, on the other hand, accused the Congress of running a disinformation campaign against the Narendra Modi government.

Interacting with mediapersons this morning, Patra said it was during the UPA tenure that major corporate houses were being benefited whereas the current government was working for the welfare of the poor.

“The UPA government, led by the Congress, gave away coal blocks and spectrum to benefit these corporate houses, but the current government has benefited by selling the same to these corporate houses and the money is being used for the welfare of the poor,” he said.

BJP reaffirms its stand on abrogation of Art 370

BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra on Sunday said the abrogation of Article 370 continues to be a part of the party's core ideology and it would work in that direction whenever it garners the required numbers in Parliament. "As far as the abrogation of Article 370 is concerned, it continues to be a part of the core ideology of the BJP. But right now we don't have enough numbers in Parliament to do away with it...in future, when we have the required numbers, we will work towards its removal," Patra said. He said the BJP and the PDP were ideologically different, but both the parties came together to provide a stable government to the people of the state and for the sake of development. "People here want development. The coalition has provided a historic opportunity, respecting the mandate of the people of all the three regions. Now, it should become a successful experiment for the sake of good governance and development," he said.