'BJP stands for credibility of promises under Modi, Cong for crisis'

New Delhi, Nov 2 (PTI) The BJP on Saturday asserted that it stood for the credibility of promises made to people under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership and the Congress for the "crisis of credibility", as the ruling party fired a fresh salvo at its rival in a war of words between them over unkept poll pledges.

BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi claimed his party believes in creating wealth and distributing it among the poor while "destruction of wealth" defined the Congress, and was joined by Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri who cited figures to depict India's changing face under Modi.

The ruling party made the fresh charge a day after Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that "Modi ki guarantee" was a cruel joke on people after the prime minister had seized on the Congress president's advice to his state colleagues in Kanataka that they should be guided by budgetary constraints in making poll announcements.

Trivedi, also a Rajya Sabha MP, told reporters that the ruling party had gradually stepped up the scope of its welfare schemes, ranging from health insurance to free grains and cash transfer for farmers, by resorting to the first creation of wealth followed by its distribution as the size of the Indian economy grew over the past decade.

"We believe in first the creation of wealth and (then) distribution. The Congress stands for the creation of corruption and destruction of wealth," he said, citing a host of alleged unfulfilled promises of Congress-led governments in different states.

Was Kharge speaking the truth on Friday or a day before, Trivedi said mockingly, suggesting that the Congress president's attack on the Modi government was made under pressure to cover up for what he had said earlier.

The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha had said that the BJP stood for "betrayal" and "jumla" (rhetoric), alleging that lies, deceit, fakery, loot and publicity were the five adjectives that best described the Modi government.

Puri jabbed Kharge for "delusional opinions", saying the opposition party was using "lies, fabricated figures and fake data" in its classic shoot and scoot policy.

In a series of posts on X, Puri quoted data to claim the Modi government's inclusive development policies will make the country a developed nation by 2047. "Congress Party and Mr Kharge seem to be oblivious of the changes that have transformed the lives of Indians for the better," he said.

The Modi government has pulled more than 24 crore Indians out of multidimensional poverty. This was aided by the construction of more than 11 crore toilets, 12 crore tap water connections, over 10 crore free cooking gas connections, healthcare, bank accounts for 51 crore, three times hike in capital expenditure, and policy reforms such as GST, Startup India, IBC and PLI scheme, he said.

"We ensured the price of petrol and diesel did not rise even when the international benchmark went up by 40-70% compared to Congress-led UPA-II government when because of their folly of floating oil bonds worth Rs 1.41 lakh crores, the country is being forced to pay back Rs 3.2 lakh crores in return," he said.

Trivedi cited the construction of the Ram temple, abolition of Article 370, construction of more than 14 crore houses for the poor, and India's tough stand against Pakistan on terrorism under Modi to assert that his government had walked the talk.

As a veteran Congress member who has served in senior positions, Kharge has seen leaders such as PV Narasimha Rao and Pranab Mukherjee who deftly handled the economy under difficult circumstances, and he is now seeing the party "under the grip of urban Naxals due to Rahul Gandhi's influence", Trivedi said.

Rebutting Kharge's charges on a host of issues, Trivedi said EPFO (Employees' Provident Fund Organisation) data suggested that its account holders had grown to 25 crore compared to 11 crore a decade ago. He also cited a host of infrastructure works and asserted that all these activities had led to a lot of employment.

India is now third in auto manufacturing and second in mobile phone manufacturing, and if anyone still cannot see the country's development, then there is some serious weakness in their sight and mindset, the BJP spokesperson said.

After Kharge's remarks, Modi had said on Friday that the Congress stood "badly exposed" in front of the people for promising them what the party knew it would never be able to deliver.

When the BJP was in power in Karnataka, it was the top state in attracting investment while Maharashtra under the Congress-led alliance's rule had slipped, Trivedi claimed, adding that the situation was reversed after the BJP came to power in the western state while losing to the Congress in the southern state.

"The brains of some parties are so empty that they end up emptying the treasury when in power," he said.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said Modi should look at the "disastrous" legacy of BJP's Karnataka unit before pointing fingers at the Congress.

"We are fulfilling every promise we made to our people. All 5 guarantees implemented with a budget over Rs 52,000 crore, and an additional Rs 52,903 crore in capital outlay to build Karnataka's future," Siddaramaiah said in a post on 'X'.

While Congress in Karnataka has delivered, BJP continues to fail Indians nationwide, he claimed.

"And let's not forget: under your watch, India's debt is projected to reach Rs 185.27 trillion by FY25 a staggering 56.8 % of GDP! This isn't just bad governance; it's a burden you're placing on every Indian's back," Siddaramaiah alleged.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar also cited data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation to rebut Modi's criticism. Kharge's son and Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge alleged Modi was “ill-informed” and relying on briefings from his social media team rather than the finance minister.

Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot alleged that the Modi government had failed to fulfil the promises made to the people in 2014 and 2019.

Karnataka BJP MP Lahar Singh Siroya hit out at the Congress chief for his statement on the prime minister. "But Kharge ji who had cleverly never opened his mouth on allegations of land grab against his family-run Siddhartha Vihara Trust, despite the media discussing it, has now chosen to speak on PM's political observations in a personal tone," he said.

The Congress, BJP spokesperson Trivedi alleged, had lost the ability to govern, noting that its promise to provide one woman in every household Rs 1 lakh annually would have cost the country Rs 31 lakh crore even though its entire budget was only about Rs 27 lakh crore.

It was like a Ponzi scheme promise and could be part of a well-thought-out conspiracy as the Congress believes in triggering chaos, he said.

Any attempt to belittle PM Modi will have no impact on his popularity, reputation and image, he added.

Puri said India is demonstrating that it will achieve its development goals by 2047. "Look this way Mr Kharge. These are the hard facts." Total FDI inflows from 2014-24 stand at USD 700 billion compared to just USD 304 billion between 2004-2014, he said.

Referring to the border issue, he said, "Mr Kharge who was last seen peeping into the room where the ruling trio sat in comfort must know that UPA was totally lax in controlling ambushes and intrusions across our borders." On Kharge's charge of allowing scam accused to flee, Puri said he suffers from selective amnesia and has forgotten that "the original sin of the Nirav Modi episode happened in 2011".

"During the UPA regime, Adani group was granted loans of Rs 72,000 crore. Under the UPA regime, Ambani group received loans worth Rs 1,13,000 crore. "Despite non-payment of loans worth Rs 1,457 crore in 2012, Vijay Mallya's group was given further loans of Rs 1,500 crore," he said.

Driven by the motto of 'Na Khaunga Na Khaane Dunga', it is the Modi government that began recovering people's money, Puri said. He said Rs 13,109 crore has been received out of Rs 22,500 crore from the sale of assets belonging to fugitive economic offenders Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, he said.

Under Modi, India has witnessed significant employment growth over the years. Employment has increased by nearly 36 per cent, adding around 170 million jobs between 2016-17 and 2022-23, he said.

"He (Kharge) is clearly looking at all the wrong places & getting fake data, or maybe is just too preoccupied with trying to hold his imploding party together and buys whatever lies his advisors sell to him; or he is just too fixated with the unemployment of his party's travelling Shehzada," Puri said. PTI