"White elephant just before the elections..." RJD MP Manoj Jha on white paper on UPA's 'economic mismanagement'

Patna (Bihar) [India], February 7 (ANI): Ahead of the scheduled tabling of the White Paper on the "economic mismanagement" of the UPA government in the ongoing budget session of Parliament, Rajya Sabha MP and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Manoj Jha said that the white paper will turn into a white elephant.
"The white paper will turn into a white elephant. White paper means you can specify the number of jobs given. Where have you reached? So this isn't white paper but a white elephant just before the elections." said RJD leader Manoj Jha.
The government is likely to bring a white paper on the "economic mismanagement" of the UPA government in the ongoing budget session of Parliament with a decision taken to extend the session by a day, sources said.
The budget session started with the address by President Droupadi Murmu to the joint sitting of two Houses on January 31.
This is the last session of the current Lok Sabha before the general elections expected to be held in April-May this year.
The government had announced in the union budget presented on February 1 that it will come out with 'White Paper' to compare the economic performance of 10 years of the Congress-led UPA government with that of 10 years of the BJP-led NDA government.
Meanwhile, tabling the interim budget 2024-25 in Parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Modi government, which assumed office in 2014, overcame crisis of those years and the economy has been put firmly on a high sustainable growth path,
"In 2014 when our Government assumed the reins, the responsibility to mend the economy step by step and to put the governance systems in order was enormous. The need of the hour was to give hope to the people, to attract investments, and to build support for the much-needed reforms. The government did that successfully following our strong belief of 'nation-first'," she said.
"The crisis of those years has been overcome, and the economy has been put firmly on a high sustainable growth path with all-round development."
She announced that the Government will lay a White Paper on the table of the House "to look at where we were then till 2014 and where we are now, only for the purpose of drawing lessons from the mismanagement of those years".
"The exemplary track record of governance, development and performance, effective delivery, and 'Jan Kalyan' has given the government trust, confidence and blessings of the people to realize, whatever it takes, the goal of 'Viksit Bharat' with good intentions, true dedication and hard work in the coming years and decades," she said.
The budget session, which is the last Parliament session before Lok Sabha polls expected in April-May this year, was slated to conclude on February 9. (ANI)