Congress on Tuesday tore into the agenda outlined by President Pranab Mukherjee in his address saying it is repackaging of work done by UPA and asked the Narendra Modi government to implement the promises made without trumpeting and "arrogance". Congress, which has been reduced to 44 members in the Lok Sabha, told the government it will keep on the pressure to ensure implementation of people-oriented programmes irrespective of the small number of members it has in the House.
In this context, Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge invoked Mahabharata and said though Pandavas were few in number as compared to Kauravas, still they could not be defeated.
Amid thumping of desks, including by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Kharge expressed confidence that the party will bounce back to power and NDA should not think that it will continue to be in power forever.
Speaking on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address, which he supported, Kharge commented point by point on the new government's agenda and highlighted achievements of the previous UPA government over the last ten years.
"Nothing new has been said...we need to put the record straight. Modi only repackages what is already done...All these things have been repackaged in the name of Modi," Kharge said in his 45-minute speech which was appreciated by Sonia Gandhi as well as Rahul Gandhi.
Kharge said BJP is good at marketing things and emphasised that talks alone would not help in filling the stomach of poor people.
"Prachar achha hai...Agar kisi cheez ka marketing karna hai toh BJP se seekh lo...Sirf marketing and packaging pe nahe chalta (You are good campaigners and one should learn marketing skills from BJP...but you cannot run the country by merely marketing and packaging)," he said.
Asking the government not to have "arrogance" because of its big mandate in the Lok Sabha election, Kharge said it should deliver as "only announcements will not work".
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