Opposition attacks UPA govt. in Parliament

Opposition on Wednesday slammed the UPA on issues of “uncontrolled” corruption and “ineffective” implementation of welfare schemes, saying the difference between the government’s words and deeds was clearly visible. Resuming the debate of the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address, Shahnawaz Hussain (BJP) said the government made big announcements in the President’s speech, the Economic Survey and annual budget but the implementation has been sloppy. He also referred to the Railway Budget and alleged that its focus was only on Rae Bareli and Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituencies of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. “People say Congress is becoming a regional party. But the rail budget shows that it is now a party which exists only from Amethi to Rae Bareli,” he said. Mr. Hussain charged the UPA government with neither understanding the ailments the country was facing nor having a clue about the cure. “There are uncontrolled corruption, price rise and unemployment,” he said. “This government has not given employment to youth except for Rahul Gandhi. Five lakh people have become unemployed in the last nine years,” he said. Referring to a recent speech of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi without naming him, Mr. Hussain said, “If the system is termite infested, you will have to take responsibility for it. The Manmohan Singh government enjoys no goodwill and lacks will power,” he said. Mr. Hussain’s speech was disrupted by SP members, led by Neeraj Shekhar, who insisted that he and his party BJP have no right to speak about the minorities. When Mr. Shekhar said the BJP government in Gujarat was responsible for the killing of Muslims, BJP members took strong exception and complained to the Chair this was not fair. JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav alleged that the government is giving out benefits only to certain sections of the society. Mr. Hussain maintained that the common man is disillusioned with the government as it keeps breaking its promises. “This is a caretaker government which is giving us one scam after another,” he said. He pointed out that the government’s contention that the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister are honest is not enough as several scams continue to take place. “This government is indulging in self-certification,” he said. The BJP leader claimed that schemes like MNREGA, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and PMGSY have not reached the intended beneficiaries and are being used to promote the names of Sonia and Rahul. “This government has no achievement to show... It has tried to fan communalism by giving a colour to terrorism. The Home Minister was forced to apologise by Sushma Swaraj. Terror has no colour and no religion,” he said. Mr. Hussain claimed that the situation in the country is conducive to minorities but some people are trying to vitiate it by dividing the country. “Today a Yusuf Khan does not have to become Dilip Kumar, a Mumtaz does not have to become Madhubala and a Shahnawaz Hussain and Aamir Khan can use their names,” he said. Mr. Yadav, who is also NDA Convenor, said there is no difference in the President’s Address of last year and this year. “Resources are depleting while population has increased tremendously. There is huge corruption and the money meant for schemes like MNREGA is not reaching people,” he said. “Rajiv Gandhi used to say only 15 paise in a rupee reaches the people. Now Rahul Gandhi is saying only 5 paise reaches them,” Mr. Yadav said. He said even water has become very costly as has diesel -- which is used in large quantities by the rich to run generators. ‘Credibility crisis’ in UPA: Jaitley Speaking on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address, Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley said there was a “credibility crisis” in the government and criticised the slow growth in the power, telecom and the highways sectors. He said there were “dual power centres” in the UPA government and asked the Prime Minister to “assert” himself more for running the government. “When UPA came to power nine years ago, there was a buzz of excitement about India. The NDA had left power with 8 per cent growth rate and now, we may have a less than 5 per cent growth rate. The atmosphere has changed from that of enthusiasm to sense of cynicism about India,” he said. Mr. Jaitley said the UPA should also introspect about its governance model which cannot function properly in a democratic set up. “In any democracy, in policy making, in governance, the last word should be of that of the Prime Minister. The UPA is not following this governance model... There is a leadership crisis and there is crisis of credibility. The leadership crisis is obvious as dual power centres cannot function in a democracy,” he said. The BJP leader said the Prime Minister and his cabinet have the collective responsibility of running the nation and there cannot be an advisory council over it whose decisions are bound to be followed by the ministries of the Government. “This weakens the government and this impacts it’s functioning,” he said. He said the number of corruption charges against the government in the last three-four years have raised question marks over its credibility and also changed the way India is looked upon in the world. The Hindu