Modi Govt failed on all fronts: Jaipal Reddy

Former Union Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having failed on all fronts during his first year rule.

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan here, Jaipal Reddy described Modi as an "arrogant and ignorant" politician. He said instead of implementing his own agenda, Modi focussed all his energies in criticising the previous Congress regimes. He accused the BJP-led NDA Government of using wrong statistics to blame the Congress. Further, he said Modi's Administration remained concentrated on pleasing the super rich category while ignoring the poor and farmers. While the average agriculture growth rate during UPA's 10-year rule was 4.7%, it came down by 1.1% during NDA's rule.

Jaipal Reddy also criticised Modi's frequent foreign tours. He said that the Prime Minister stayed out of the country for almost 52 days in the last one year. "Modi has reduced External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to a dummy while senior BJP leader LK Advani is reduced to 'Mummy'," he alleged.

The Congress senior leader also alleged that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was trying to get closer to the NDA and for the same reasons, he is supporting the Land Acquisition Bill. When asked for details, he said KCR tried to join the NDA during the last elections. However, he could not do so due to TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu. He also accused KCR of competing with Modi in making false promises with the people.