Congress accuses government with 'copying' its agenda

NEW DELHI: Congress today charged the government with "copying" its agenda in the last 10 years in the President's address and said it had already implemented 90 per cent of the schemes and policies listed out by the NDA.

Leading the Congress' attack while speaking on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said BJP has only listed out programmes that have already been implemented by the UPA.

Complimenting BJP for its electoral victory, Azad said Congress will play a constructive role as an opposition, but reminded them of the responsibility given by the people as "janadesh, kursi, paisa" (verdict, money and power) do not remain permanently with anyone.

Congress also targeted BJP for promising welfare of minorities and said "this is like music to my ears" which "we have yearned for years to hear" and wondered if it was a change of heart for the good or just lip service.

Taking a dig at the BJP slogan of "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas (all together, development for all), he said it is a mere translation of Manmohan Singh's "inclusive growth" model.

"There is nothing in this that we can support. It is a copy of our schemes and programmes. We have already implemented 90 per cent of the programmes listed in this address. We have done all these programmes," he said.

"The Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas slogan is a mere translation of Dr Manmohan Singh's model of inclusive growth," he said, adding that he was trying to understand what the slogan of minimum government and maximum governance actually meant.

On the government's intent to eradicate poverty, Azad said it is a "good slogan" and the entire opposition and Congress will give a gold medal if they achieve success, but questioned in what time frame they will achieve so and where will the resources come from.