New Delhi: BJP on Saturday hit out at the Centre for failing to control inflation and price rise and on corruption, alleging that its "wrong" policies have affected the country`s growth rate and left its economy in a "mess".
The Economic Resolution adopted unanimously at the party`s National Council meeting squarely blamed the ruling dispensation for the economic "mismanagement" and claimed it had negated the economic robustness that the UPA inherited from NDA in 2004.
"Inflation and corruption have become the hallmarks of the UPA government. The country also has to suffer the ignominy of experiencing economic downslide under the leadership of the economist Prime Minister under whom every economic macro-parameter has steadily declined," the resolution said.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said though UPA inherited a growth rate of 8.4 per cent from NDA in 2004, the growth rate would be 4 to 4.5 per cent when it leaves power.
He lamented that even the low-cost economy nations are growing, India is not.
He said the country`s current growth is also due to the high growth rate reported by some NDA-ruled states and if their contribution is taken out, the country`s growth rate would be much less.
Moving the resolution, Prakash Javadekar said the government has failed to infuse confidence among investors and even domestic investors were not investing in the country.
"Instead of working towards a 10 per cent growth rate with 5 per cent inflation rate, in its nine year tenure the UPA has achieved the exact opposite — a 10 per cent inflation rate and a 5 per cent growth rate.
"Even by conservative estimates, the mess of economic mismanagement under the Congress-led UPA government has taken the country many decades backward," the resolution said.
It added that the core sector like coal, mining, power, fertilizer and natural gas are all in the negative zone.
It highlighted the plight of farmers, saying more than 60 per cent of the population that depended on agriculture sector was in deep distress.
Jaitley lamented the contribution of the sector to GDP of the country was only 16 per cent.
He wondered how the government was launching welfare schemes even when its coffers were empty, saying poverty alleviation schemes can be launched by only those governments which have money with them.
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, while seconding the Economic Resolution, said India will scrap FDI in multi-brand retail policy when BJP-led NDA comes to power.
BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi alleged the current crisis was due to Prime Minister not taking decisions himself.
"You are not independent in taking decisions. Decisions come from outside the Cabinet. It is not right to put the blame on coalition politics and saying that parties are not allowing the government to function effectively.
"You are left only as a rubber stamp," he said.
Citing an international report by Transparency International on FDI, the BJP leader said, "Whereever FDI goes, lobbying is done and it brings corruption alongwith."
Joshi alleged that Walmart`s entry into India was to take control of its foodgrains.
The BJP also demanded immediate rollback of all hike in administered prices of petrol, diesel and capping of gas cylinders, bringing down prices of essential commodities by necessary policy revamp, increase in MSP of foodgrains and implementation of the Swaminathan Committee recommendations, besides waiver of the loans for drought and unseasonal rains that affected farmers.
Attacking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, BJP said, "The PM`s ineptitude was at its classical best when he informed the country that `money doesn`t grow on trees`."
Hitting out at the government, the party said the Congress-led UPA has become synonymous with corruption.
"The VVIP Chopper Scam and the Farm Loan waiver scam are the latest additions in this government`s unending list of corruption," the resolution said.
"The BJP demands that both these scams be investigated under court monitoring and also that the eligible farmers be immediately given the waiver benefits," it said
The party said corruption also is an important trigger for inflation, a dampener for honest investment and also a reason for growing fiscal deficit.
"The Government by design attacked the CAG and disturbed the PAC proceedings with a motive to cover up their scams," it said.
PTI
