'Frustrated' BJP raking up nationalism issue as it 'miserably failed' on development agenda: Bansal

Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal Thursday accused the BJP of raising the issue of nationalism and politicising armed forces during election time and said the "frustrated" saffron party had "miserably failed" on their development agenda in the last five years.

The former Union minister slammed sitting MP Kirron Kher, saying the BJP should be apologetic as it "failed" to carry out any development work in the Union territory.

"The graph of the BJP came down tremendously in the last five years because they failed miserably on their development agenda. They are now resorting to old tactics by whipping up the viciously communal feelings and the issue of what they say is 'Rashtravad' (nationalism) as if they are the only repository of patriotism and nobody else is," Bansal said.

He said for the first time Indian armed forces were being politicised.

"Never before did you hear that important functionary of a ruling party like the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh calling the Army as 'Modiji ki sena'. This is what they are resorting to. They are frustrated. They know what their place is likely to be after May 23," he said.

Questioning the BJP over the claimed success of demonetisation and the GST, Bansal said why these issues were not part of political speech of BJP leaders.

"If demonetisation was successful then why they are not talking about it. If the GST benefitted people, they why they are not raising it now. Why they are talking about only 'Rashtravad'? Their campaign is totally personalised as the BJP's performance has been total failure," he said.

Countering the BJP's claims about development work in Chandigarh, Bansal said the party should rather be apologetic about it.

"What have they done in Chandigarh? The city had a free fall from the first place to 20th rank in sanitation and cleanliness. Chandigarh has been ranked at 67th rank as far as smart city project is concerned," said Bansal, a four-time lawmaker who won the Chandigarh seat in 1991, 1999, 2004 and 2009. In 2014 elections, Bansal had lost to Kirron Kher.

When asked about his vision if he was elected again, Bansal said his first priority will be to revive metro rail project in Chandigarh to ease traffic snarls caused by vehicles coming from Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

He said he would work towards bringing more funds for "resources-starved" Punjab University and making the city crime free.