BJP denounces UPA economic policies

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today blamed the Manmohan Singh government for lacking courage to take bold decisions on continuing with economic reforms, boosting infrastructure growth and a disinvestment policy.

Senior party leaders Venkaiah Naidu and Ravishankar Prasad made these comments at an in-house party meet called to discuss the Union Budget presented in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Both asked BJP activists to launch a national campaign on the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s economic policies. Which, they claimed, were detrimental to growth and India’s image as a global investment destination.

Naidu said the huge fiscal deficit in the budget would mean a poor rating for India in the competitive global investment market. He blamed Singh for “not mustering enough political will for taking bold decisions in spite of the party getting a rousing mandate”. “There are no roadblocks - the Communists - to stall the economic reforms now,’’ Naidu said.

The BJP leaders recalled the growth story of seven years under the Vajpayee-led NDA government. “Earlier, India had only three crore telephones, in NDA’s rule it reached 30 crore,’’ Naidu said. He recalled how Vajpayee had thrown a surprise at his cabinet colleagues by making a last-minute announcement that a cess of 50 paise per litre on petrol would be levied to raise funds for his flagship national highways project scheme.

Prasad questioned the special provision for flood control in Mumbai made in the Union Budget while ignoring the devastating floods in the Kosi river in Bihar last year. “Just because the UPA did not get votes from Bihar, and it got in Mumbai does not mean it should indulge in discrimination,’’ he said.

Prasad said the country needs to openly discuss the disinvestment policy. He said all the public sector enterprises divested in the NDA regime were highly profitable ventures today. He also accused the UPA government of neglecting the realty sector.