Jaipur, (Samajweekly) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday lashed at the Congress government in Rajasthan for “spreading lies and creating confusion” on the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).
Addressing a press conference in Jaipur, the Finance Minister questioned the BJP workers as to why didn’t they advise the then Ashok Gehlot government that it was immature to introduce OPS in the state, as she asked the erstwhile regime why it implemented the scheme in a hurry.
“The Congress has not included the OPS/New Pension Scheme (NPS) in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls. A committee has been formed by the Central government which is looking into the scheme. So it will be immature to discuss it now,” said Sitharaman.
“But why was former CM Gehlot not told that it was immature to shift to OPS from NPS when he was implementing it in Rajasthan? What was the hurry,” Sitharaman questioned.
She also accused Congress of being a habitual offender in making fake promises to get votes.
“But soon after getting the votes, the Congress forgets all its promises and leaves the people in limbo,” she said.
Giving an example, she said the Congress made one such improbable promise of implementing the OPS.
“Following the Rajasthan government, the Congress repeated the promise in Himachal Pradesh to the elections. Ashok Gehlot in fact demanded NPS money from the Central government after implementing the OPS in Rajasthan. As it was not feasible, we had to revert by saying that it was workers’ money which will go into their accounts, and not to any government account,” Sitharaman said.
She also accused Ashok Gehlot of creating hurdles in the implementation of the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP).
“Many efforts were made to build a consensus on ERCP between Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan governments, but the then CM Ashok Gehlot was not ready for the same due to which the fate of the project kept hanging for five years. While the project was implemented on January 24, it could have been implemented much earlier if not for Gehlot’s reluctance,” she claimed.
“Any Chief Minister would have gone out of his way to save the state from a water crisis, but Gehlot continued creating hurdles for the project,” the Finance Minister said.
She also said the opposition is raising hues and cries about inflation for no reason, as inflation is in single digit against the double-digit figures during the Congress’ tenure.
“For 22 months under the UPA government, inflation was in double digits,” she said, adding that the inflation has been under 6 per cent in the last 10 years except for a month or two.
