BJP continues to use 'Cong is the reason' narrative to counter NMP criticism

New Delhi: The BJP which is known to connect the entire shortcomings the country is now facing to the previous Congress regimes has once again come with a narrative to counter the Congress criticism against the Centre's massive privatisation of public undertakings.

Responding to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's comment against the announced National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that it was Congress that sold the country's resources for kickbacks.

Rahul calling out the NMP said that it has helped Prime Minister Narendra Modi "sell the country's crown jewels, built over 70 years with public money, to his industrialist friends".

The Congress also said that what the BJP government is now selling to offset the shortfalls that erupted out of its mismanagement are the assets the successive Congress governments had built over the years.

Under the NMP, 25 airports, 40 railway stations and 15 railway stadiums, among other installations will be handed over to private players to operate, and the money achieved through it will be channelized to infrastructure development across the country.

Several opposition parties have also spoken against the Centre's privatisation bid. "NMP is an unprecedented anti-people move which did not figure in the BJP election manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls," said Trinamool Congress leader Sukhendu Shekhar Roy.

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav called it is a "sinister plan" to curtail government jobs, which is against the interests of people and the country, reported news agency ANI.