CONGRESS ‘EXPERT’ IN MISLEADING PUBLIC BY MAKING PROMISES, SAYS FM

JAIPUR: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday targeted the Congress for not including the restoration of the old pension scheme (OPS) that it promised in many states from its election manifesto, saying the opposition party is an “expert” in misleading people to garner votes.

The senior BJP leader also defended the electoral bond scheme, which was recently struck down by the Supreme Court, saying it was a better system as the transfer of money was visible in accounts instead of the earlier practice when cash-filled “sacks” and “suitcases” were given to parties.

“Congress party is expert in making promises just for the sake of elections, misleading the public, taking votes and then forgetting about it,” she told reporters in Jaipur.

The Congress party has not included the OPS issue in its manifesto for this Lok Sabha elections, she said. “Make promises, mislead the people, take votes, come to power, this is the way of Congress. This is the attitude of Congress, not ours.”

On the Opposition’s criticism over inflation, she said, “I want to remind that in the 10 years from 2004 to 2014, inflation was in double digits for 22 months, food inflation was around 12 per cent at that time. Just look at the figures of last month, retail inflation is less than four per cent.”

She also defended the Centre’s electoral bond scheme, saying the system was created by passing a law after discussion in the Parliament and every political party took advantage of it legally. “Before the electoral bonds, there was no structure. You can take sackfuls of cash to political parties, or carry them in suitcases, or give gold or flat. There was no control whatsoever,” she said.

“After discussion in Parliament, this solution was found. In this, money flows from ‘account to account’ from the buyer of the bond to the one who redeems it. This system has come after the legislation was passed in Parliament,” she added. After the decision of top court, “one can say anything to create a political twist but every party has taken advantage of it”, she said.