President's address was a 'grocery list' of govt programmes: BJP

BJP said Pranab Mukherjee's speech did not convey what was the government's agenda or strategy for dealing with issues like price rise and corruption

Expressing dissatisfaction with the President's address, BJP today said it was merely a "grocery list" of the government's programmes and had left out several crucial issues like how the UPA regime intends to deal with corruption, price rise and economy.

"We have a lot of respect for the President but we are commenting against his address as it is prepared by the government. The President's address cannot be a grocery list of government's programmes... Neither reflects the state of the country nor the mood of the nation," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters at a press conference here.

The main opposition party alleged that President Pranab Mukherjee's speech did not convey what was the government's agenda or strategy for dealing with issues like price rise and corruption.

Prasad said the address only enumerated several government programmes including some which are not so significant. "There was no mention of government strategy or agenda for containing corruption. This is very important as every Parliament session is preceded by a scam. The government had earlier insisted it wants to check corruption," he said.

He alleged that the CBI is not being provided files in its probe into the coal allocation scam.

"In the helicopter scam it is clear that bribes were paid and who has paid them. But is not yet clear who is the recipient of the slush money," Prasad said.

Asked what kind of a probe the BJP wants on the issue, Prasad said its main concern is that the investigations should not be an excuse to delay the matter.

"Whether the probe should be conducted by the CBI or monitored by the Supreme Court or a Special Investigation Team or a JPC should investigate the issue is a matter of detail. But we do not want it to be delayed by two-three years," Prasad said.