From Demonetisation to Fuel Prices, Manmohan Singh Veils an Attack on Narendra Modi Government During Karnataka Election Campaign: Key Highlights

Bengaluru, May 7: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi mounted an attack on the Congress party, Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during an election rally in Bengaluru on Monday attacked the Narendra-Modi led NDA government over 'economic mismanagement' on Monday. During his address at an election rally in poll-bound Karnataka, Singh said it is in the banking sector that the mismanagement of the Modi govt is visible.

“The economic management of Modi government is slowly eroding the trust of the general public in the banking system. Recent incidents which resulted in a shortage of cash in many states were preventable”, Singh said. The Former Prime Minister also criticised the Modi government for the rise in fuel prices.

Highlighting blunders of the Modi government, Singh said, “Two major avoidable blunders of Modi govt have been demonetisation & hasty implementation of GST. Losses the economy suffered due to these blunders have severely hurt our micro small & medium enterprise sector & have resulted in loss of tens of thousands of jobs”.

Here are the key highlights:

• Singh said the policies of the Modi government, which claims to be good, has resulted in massive losses for the country. "The economic mismanagement of the Modi government and I say this with great care and responsibility, is slowly eroding the trust of the general public in the banking sector", Singh said.
• Singh said that no Prime Minister in India has used the Office of the Prime Minister to say things about his opponent that Modi has been doing day in & day out.
• Singh slammed the Prime Minister over his remarks on the Opposition and said it doesn't behove a Prime Minister to stoop so low & it is not good for the country as a whole as well. Singh said the Modi govt is deliberately painting a rosy picture than the hard facts available. “PM Modi should practice the advice he gave me. Unfortunately, he hasn’t held a single press conference in four years”, he added.
• Manmohan Singh said the Modi government has failed to capitalise the favourable global economic climate and could not use the low oil prices to our advantage. It is an opportunity loss
• Singh said petrol and diesel prices are at a historic high. “This is in spite of lower international crude oil prices because the Modi Government chooses to levy excessive excise taxes. Instead of passing on the benefits of low prices to the people, the Modi government has punished the people”, Singh said.
• Talking about Nirav-Modi led Punjab National Bank scam, Singh said as far as Nirav Modi is concerned, it was obvious that in 2015-16, that something is going around with the affairs of Modi. “Yet the Modi government didn't do anything. If blame has to be cast, it has to be on the govt of mandate”, Manmohan Singh said in an election rally in Bengaluru.
• “In fact, the PM was in Davos in the company of Nirav Modi & only a few days later he ran away from the country. That itself is the reflection of sad state of affairs in this wonderland of Modi government”, Singh added.

While Congress president Rahul Gandhi held a roadshow in Kolar while former prime minister Manmohan Singh attacked the Modi government over a slew of things in Bengaluru. It must be noted that Karnataka will go to polls on May 12 and votes will be counted on May 15.  During the past few weeks, both parties launched several attacks and accusations against the other over several issues. PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi and Amit Shah have been touring the state through the day and address several rallies and roadshows.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 07, 2018 01:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).