New Delhi, April 4
Taking a broad sweep at the alleged acts of omission and commissions of the UPA government, the BJP on Friday presented a chargesheet on its 10-year rule which it described as an “endless saga of scam and corruption”.

The party picked holes in the government's economic policies and alleged the UPA destroyed all engines of growth. Though the UPA inherited robust growth rate of 8.5 per cent from the NDA, growth has nosedived to 4.5 per cent because of UPA mismanagement, corruption and bad governance, said the document. Releasing the 58-page document, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the intention behind the document was to remind the public that it should have no expectation from the Congress-led UPA government in the future.

The chargesheet, which is in the form of a booklet, criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for “devaluing” his high office. “Dr Manmohan Singh worked more like the CEO of a company where the board was headed by Sonia Gandhi with Rahul Gandhi as her deputy. Dr Singh made compromises to remain in office and one does not come across a single case where he made any decisive intervention to contain the loot of public money in a series of scams that became the defining feature of this the most-corrupt government since Independence.”

Slamming the UPA government for failure to control prices and low infrastructural growth, including national highway projects, the chargesheet said the entire infrastructure suffered because of corruption, indecision and policy paralysis.

New Delhi, April 4
Amid the controversy over the reasons for the embarrassing delay in releasing its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party today repaid the ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance in the same measure it received a decade ago — a chargesheet.

With just two days left for the first vote to be cast to elect members of the 16th Lok Sabha, the BJP today summarised the 10-year reign of the UPA government as a “a dark decade in governance”, seeking to respond to the decade-old missive by the Congress against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government in 2004 through a booklet “Vajpayee government — A saga of sins, scams and shame”.

Interestingly, there are many similarities in the accusations that the Congress made then and charges levelled by the BJP today. Despite the passage of 10 years, some issues remain the same — scams, corruption, lack of governance and management of agriculture, economy, defence and security and undermining of institutions besides mention of a son-in-law.

If the Congress then accused the foster son-in-law of the then Prime Minister Vajpayee and his “influence” in decision-making, the BJP document talks of the son-in-law of Congress president and his acquisition of lands resulting in “windfall gains”.

New Delhi, April 4
The Congress today dismissed the BJP’s chargesheet against the UPA government as a pack of lies and asked them to explain the delay in the release of the election manifesto with just three days left for the Lok Sabha elections to commence.

“The BJP chargesheet is a work of fiction, a pack of lies and nothing else. The BJP has used such negative agenda in the past as well to stall India’s growth. Our advice to the BJP is - it is high time they rose above this negativity,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, slamming the BJP for its failure to publish a manifesto despite polls nearing.