NDA has failed in key areas like economy: Muniyappa

Chennai, May 26: Mounting a sharp attack on the Narendra Modi government as it completes two years in office, Congress leader K H Muniyappa today said NDA had failed in key areas like economy, agriculture and foreign policy issues.

The former union minister Muniyappa said the "only achievement" of the Union government was that of changing the names of UPA era schemes.

"The economy has totally gone down. Agriculture has gone down. People are suffering to get drinking water and this government is an utter failure," he said.

Addressing reporters as part of the Congress' strategy of holding around 50 press conferences across the country to highlight the failures of the two year-old Modi government, Muniyappa took a swipe at the Prime Minister's foreign visits and alleged that he had no time for the people of the country.

"The Prime Minister is not in a position to sit in the country and see the problems. He always flies out," he said.

Muniyappa, MP from Kolar in Karnataka, said BJP had not kept its word on job-creation, even as he charged the central government with "failing to prevent farmer suicides."

He alleged the GDP had gone down and economic growth had slowed and expressed confidence that the UPA will return to power in 2019 after mobilising secular forces.

He recalled various pro-farmer measures of UPA like waiver of farm loans to the tune of Rs 72,000 crore, while claiming beneficiaries under MNREGA had come down after NDA came to power in 2014.

A handout issued by the TNCC claimed the Modi government had not performed well in foreign policy, saying "flip-flops" in the Pathankot probe had given Pakistan the advantage.

PTI