President`s address ‘disappointing’: BJP, UPA supporters

Describing the President`s address as "disappointing", BJP and some UPA supporters charged the government with failure on several fronts.

New Delhi: Describing the President`s address as "disappointing", BJP and some UPA supporters on Wednesday charged the government with failure on several fronts - from low agricultural growth, plight of farmers, price rise, national security to corruption and relations with neighbours. "The government has tried to set its political agenda for the polls through the President`s Address but it neither has any direction, vision, resolve or willpower to deal with the challenges facing the country," BJP President Rajnath Singh said in the Lok Sabha. Speaking on the Motion of Thanks to the President`s Address, Singh attacked the government on a host of issues. "This Address is very disappointing.... There is no reason for any cheer on the agriculture front. The government has cited the Five-Year Plan figures which should never be considered a parameter for agricultural growth and is an attempt at a cover-up. There has been only 1.8 per cent growth in the agriculture sector in the last year," he said. The BJP leader alleged that "wrong economic policies, wrong economic planning and corruption" in the UPA government were responsible for the current situation. "The government should not try to build castles in the air through the President`s Address," Singh said. Government`s allies were also scathing in their attack with Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav faulting it on issues like economy, internal security as well as foreign policy. "No step has been taken to check inflation. Any government with courage can take measures to control it," he said. Earlier, initiating the debate on the Motion of Thanks, Congress member P C Chacko defended the government, saying it is no way a sign of policy paralysis that the country has emerged as the largest producer of wheat and rice in the world and is also the top milk producer. "We have become a model to the world," he said. PTI