Congress not averse to alliance with JD(S) in Karnataka: Anand Sharma

The incumbent government would now spend crores of rupees on false propaganda and publicity on its four years in office, he says.

Anand Sharma (R). File photo

The Congress is not averse to any alliance with the JD(S) in Karnataka and had made it clear in its recent political resolution about its intent of going with secular and like-minded political forces, according to Anand Sharma, deputy leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha.

Mr. Sharma raises questions over the BJP's poll expenses in Karnataka and ''misuse of government machinery.'' “Crores of rupees are being given to each BJP candidate on Assembly seats and the expenditure of chartered helicopters must have gone beyond Rs 15000 crore by now. On the other hand, the Congress campaign is gagged and the candidates are experiencing midnight income-tax raids,” he said at a press conference in Shimla on Saturday.

He described the four years of the Narendra Modi government a complete failure and full of deceit, dishonesty, lies and false promises. The incumbent government would now spend crores of rupees on false propaganda and publicity on its four years in office, he said.

'Fake publicity'

“The Modi government, instead of indulging in fake publicity, should spend time in remorse and repentance. Its two major decisions of demonetisation and GST have proved to be the biggest failures and have ruined the robust Indian economy,” he said.

The government failed to tackle corruption, black money and terrorism it had promised through demonetisation and instead, 143 people sacrificed their lives during this exercise. It did not touch the revenue base of about 45% in GST, including that of alcohol, petrol and real estate, he alleged.

“After creating five slabs in GST, it has already made around 40 amendments so far and is unable to refund the cost credits. It has created a regime of tax terrorism. More than 33% of MSME industry has been closed, resulting in a loss of around 4 crore jobs. The investment rate is at its historical low and the national savings rate has also declined since the people have lost faith in the banking system and the Reserve Bank of India has lost its credibility all over the world. The NPA has increased from 3 lakh crore to 11 lakh crore now,” he said.

The BJP government had killed the sanctity and independence of institutions like the CBI, the ED, the Election Commission of India, the Reserve Bank of India and the judiciary. ''It’s not done by default but by design,” he said.

This government had failed in providing security to women and the entire world was talking about this. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy and diplomacy lacked the gravitas and depth and was limited to photo opportunities and personal propaganda, he said.