BJP's decade in office littered with unkept promises, says Congress

NEW DELHI: Arguing that PM Modi should have released an "apology letter" instead of "guarantee patra", Congress, led by its president Mallikarjun Kharge, on Sunday said BJP's decade in office was littered with unkept promises on all fronts, and the saffron party should give an account of its past manifesto vows.

Party spokespersons Pawan Khera, Supriya Shrinate and Amitabh Dubey told reporters that the word "jobs" was mentioned only twice in the 76-page BJP manifesto, though it was the biggest failure of the Modi govt.

"BJP and Modi should have issued an apology to jobless youth, Dalits, tribals, Agniveer jawans, Ankita Bhandari's family," Khera said, recounting the promises on jobs, social justice and women's security made by Modi in 2019. "The worst situation for a country is when people stop trusting its PM's words and start calling him a liar."

Shrinate wondered how seriously the BJP manifesto could be taken when it was prepared in a mere 13 days and the party held a 1.4-hour press conference to release it but refused to take any questions from journalists. Instead, she said, the Congress manifesto took inputs from people during the two Bharat Jodo Yatras and took around four months to prepare a vision document for future.

Dubey, a member of the AICC manifesto committee, and Khera said BJP in 2014 had promised a task force to bring back black money but gave the country electoral bonds, while its promise to arrest the falling currency has seen it cross Rs 83 per dollar.