Congress accuses BJP of U-turns on poll promises

The Congress Monday accused the BJP government of making repeated U-turns during the six months it has been in power.

Congress general secretary Ajay Maken released a booklet listing 25 U-turns that the party said the government has made vis-a-vis the stand the Bharatiya Janata Party took on issues when it was in opposition.

"This government has made 25 U-turns in the last around 180 days. That's an average of one U-turn every seven to eight days," Maken said.

According to the Congress, the first U-turn was about Home Minister Rajnath Singh's demand during the Lok Sabha poll campaign to unveil the facts regarding Subhas Chandra Bose's mysterious death.

Maken alleged that after the BJP came to power, the government has refused to release any document related to the circumstances in which the freedom fighter died.

Maken was referring to the government's response to a Right to Information query that sought such information.

"As you (the BJP) had asked the UPA government to give answers (regarding Bose's death), what about you now that you are in power? Shouldn't you be sorry to the nation?" he asked.

The Congress also hit out at the government's stance on the land-swap deal with Bangladesh, terming it another U-turn.

Prime Minister Modi Sunday announced in Assam that his government would go ahead with the land swap deal along the Bangladesh border in Assam, which he said could contain the influx of refugees from Bangladesh.

Maken said the Congress had proposed the same solution during its government but Arun Jaitley, who is now the finance minister, had then criticised the deal, saying such a move would amount to being a traitor after he examined the proposal from a legal standpoint.

"Your (Jaitley's) legal knowledge and legal sense as a leader of the opposition is different from now when you are in power," Maken said.

On the issue of black money, the Congress leader reminded the BJP government to ensure that the illegal wealth stashed abroad is brought back to the country.

Despite the 100-day deadline that was promised by Modi during his election campaigns, Maken said he was still waiting to see the credit of Rs.15 lakh in everyone's account.

He was referring to Modi's claim during his election campaign that when the BJP forms the government, it will bring back the massive amount of illegal wealth stashed abroad and credit Rs.15 lakh from it to every citizen's account.

In the light of the 25 somersaults by the BJP since it came to power, Maken said the Congress would like the BJP to answer, if its sole purpose of being in the opposition then was to raise baseless criticism against the Congress-led government and capture power at the Centre.