Speaking at Zee Business's Ministerial Conclave, which was moderated by Zee Business editor Amish Devgan, Shah took swipes at the Congress and said that the status of projects the NDA government had inherited from the preceding UPA government were tragic.
"For the first time in ten years, the Prime Minister's office has restored its dignity," said BJP president Amit Shah, during a discussion held by Zee Business on Friday to speak about the NDA government's achievements last year. Shah spoke of a diminished inflation rate, a healthier GDP, better infrastructure, and said that the government is mulling plans to come up with laws to tackle black money.
Speaking at Zee Business's Ministerial Conclave, which was moderated by Zee Business editor Amish Devgan, Shah took swipes at the Congress and said that the status of projects the NDA government had inherited from the preceding UPA government were tragic.
"It is a wonder that we have manged to steer the GDP to 5.7% in a year's time. When the last NDA government came to power the GDP was 4.4%, and when we passed on power to the UPA government, the GDP was 8.8%. This time, when our government came to power, the GDP was again at 4.4%," said Shah.
On being asked whether the BJP government was targeting Robert Vadra on his land deals, Shah said that no criminal proceedings have been initiated yet. "The CAG revealed some anomalies in transactions in the land deals, and we have just forwarded it to the right authorities," said Shah. He also questioned the UPA government on not heeding to SC orders to constitute an SIT on black money. "The first step our Cabinet took was to form an SIT to look into the matter," he said.
He said that despite resistance in the Rajya Sabha over the GST Bill and Land Bill, the government will pass all bills by the monsoon session. Speaking on corruption, Shah said that Digital India will ensure transparency in the administration. He further added that in a year's time, 14 crore families have opened bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana, and the insurance scheme has attracted 7 crore 10 lakh accounts in a short span of time.
"The UPA government's average rate of infrastructure was 5.3 kilometre per day; we have brought it up to 10 kilometre per day. As far as electricity goes, every house will be lighted in five years time," said Shah. Shah also said that the Ganga project has just got the Cabinet nod, and work will start soon.
The conclave also saw the attendance of ministers Nitin Gadkari, Suresh Prabhu, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Mahesh Sharma and Jitendra Singh. Gadkari spoke about diminished cement prices, and said that projects worth 6,000 crore in Delhi are in the offing. Rudy said that with only 2% of India's workforce being skilled, his ministry will pay emphasis on skill-development workshops.
Singh said that his ministry's project to have secretaries, joint secretaries and even ministers to go and set up office in the areas in the northeast on rotational basis will benefit the area. Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the BSNL might lack competitive skills, but within the last year the BSNL has already laid 15,000 towers of the 25,000 earmarked. "In three years, we'll ensure 7 lakh kilometres of connectivity," said Prasad.
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