Manmohan Singh hopes PM Modi will learn development lessons from Siddaramaiah

Former PM Dr Manmohan Singh said he hopes PM Modi would learn and implement development lessons from the CM Siddaramaiah's government in Karnataka. CM Siddaramaiah has provided a dynamic and progressive leadership to Karnataka. He has dealt with the drought effectively and provided timely assistance to farmers.

In a scathing attack, Manmohan Singh said, "PM Modi ji after having promised 2 crore jobs a year to the people of this country has presided over a period where jobs have actually been destroyed. In the age group of 15-24, over 72 lakh jobs were lost over the last four years."

"It is normal in an economy to have sluggish job growth, this usually happens when external factors are unfavourable. However, job destruction in India is due to mismanagement on the part of PM Modi ji and his team. True leadership creates opportunities, it does not destroy them. If we do not fix these problems right now, we risk turning our demographic dividend into demographic disaster.," he said.

Manmohan Singh further said, " It does not help that the Ministers in PM Modi ji's cabinet and even BJP Chief Ministers regularly make comments promoting irrationality. It thus comes as no surprise when irrational policies hurting people are implemented."

Dr Singh recalled that Bengaluru was also the inspiration for the UPA government's Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The idea came from social entrepreneurs from Bengaluru. " Instead, the Modi government has been content to simply come up with catchy tags like AMRUT and Smart Cities, which have underperformed spectacularly. Thus, under the BJP government we are missing out on crucial years which require careful planning and investment to ensure that our cities remain engines of growth," he added.

He said due to Tender SURE project, Metro connectivity city's infrastructure has improved substantially. The state government's offer to bear 80 per cent of the costs has helped kickstart the Suburban Rail project.