The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday hit out at the Congress, asking why it has not implemented its promise of bringing back the old pension scheme in Himachal Pradesh and other states where it is in power.
Addressing a press conference at BJP headquarters, New Delhi, senior party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the decision to bring a unified pension scheme (UPS) for central government employees. Prasad slammed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for his U-turn jibe at the Centre. Prime Minister Modi is "sensitive" to public issues and takes decisions in the public interest after careful consideration, he added.
The Modi government does not take "ad-hoc decisions", the former Union minister said and asked Kharge to tell the nation why his party has taken a "U-turn" on its poll promise of implementing the old pension scheme in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana after coming to power in these states.
"The Congress has made the old pension scheme a massive issue in Indian politics over the last two years. So much so that the Congress made even Priyanka Gandhi Vadra announce during elections in Himachal Pradesh that the party will implement the old pension scheme in the state if voted to power," Prasad said.
"Will this Congress only make announcements or implement them as well? The Congress in general and Rahul Gandhi in particular, please tell the nation did you implement the old pension scheme as promised in Himachal Pradesh," he said.
The BJP leader accused Gandhi of "bluffing" people by making false promises for votes and asked him to desist from such practice.
Prasad said the Congress had become "so weary of the palpable falsehood" of its assurance about the pension scheme that it could not muster the courage to include it in its Lok Sabha poll manifesto.
Taking a dig at the government, Kharge said in a post on X, "The 'U' in UPS stands for Modi Govt's U turns! Post June 4, the power of the people has prevailed over the arrogance of power of the Prime Minister."
However, the BJP asserted that the UPS has been in the making since 2023 and it was reported by media too.
"Kharge ji, The Unified Pension Scheme has been in the making since 2023, much before June 4, 2024...," BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said in response to Kharge's post.
"You are the Congress president. Can’t come across as so clueless and ill-informed. But what the new well-thought out-pension scheme has done is reduced Congress’s room for profligate politics," he said.
Kharge's swipe came a day after the Union Cabinet approved an assured pension of 50 per cent of salary for those who joined the service after January 1, 2004, under the National Pension System (NPS).
What is new UPS?
The new pension scheme also guarantees an assured minimum pension of Rs 10,000 per month on superannuation after a minimum of 10 years of service. This option scheme will benefit 23 lakh central government employees, he said, adding that the number would rise to 90 lakh if state governments want to join the scheme.
Announcing other features of UPS, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said an assured family pension will be provided to the spouse of a deceased employee. In addition, there would be inflation indexation on assured pension, assured family pension, and assured minimum pension.
With the addition of all these features, it marks the transformation of the National Pension System (NPS), which promised pensions based on the contribution made by employees and the government.
The announcement came against the backdrop of several non-BJP states deciding to revert to the DA-linked Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and employee organisations in some other states raising demand for the same.
(With PTI inputs)
