Hours after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) charge-sheeted the Congress on Friday, the ruling party described the indictments as a ``bag of lies’’ from a party without an agenda as was evident from the absence of a BJP manifesto three days ahead of the first phase of polling.
Briefing mediapersons here, Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala said the absence of a manifesto reflects not just a lack of leadership but also indicates that the BJP is a party without a clear-cut programme.
Essentially, the BJP is going to the electorate in the name of one man who foisted himself on the party, the spokesman said, underscoring the fact that this runs contrary to the pledge of good governance and Vision 2025 made by the opposition party.
``The only agenda that the BJP has is sheer negativity, criticism and divisiveness. This is the real face of the BJP,’’ Mr. Surjewala added. As for the BJP chargesheet, he said it was nothing but a ‘bag of lies’ put together by a party devoid of ideas.
The BJP for its part has been insisting that the delay has been caused by ``logistical’’ problems. It denied reports of a rift within the party, between its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and the head of the manifesto committee Murli Manohar Joshi.
``All senior leaders are travelling these days, it is difficult to get all of them to come to Delhi on the same day. There are no disagreements," said senior party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad. The BJP has set April 7 as the date for the manifesto release.
The BJP had also clarified that it was not violating any code of conduct by releasing the document on April 7 – the day first phase of polling is scheduled in Assam and Tripura. "As per the law, we cannot release the manifesto in a place that is going to polls, so the manifesto will not be issued in Assam and Tripura," Mr. Prasad clarified.
