The National Democratic Alliance on Thursday termed the Presidential address to the joint session of Parliament as "totally disappointing" and said there was "nothing new" in it. "There is nothing new in it. It has no message for a country like India. It was totally disappointing," senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi told media-persons outside Parliament after the Presidential address was read out.
Joshi felt that the Central government was just "recounting its old schemes" through the Presidential address. Sharad Yadav, leader of the key NDA ally Janata Dal-United, also tried to snub Congress over the promises made in the Presidential address saying, "they have only made promises in the last 55 years. "They raise the issues just for the sake of publicity and do not take them up at ground level. Their basis of poverty measurement is itself wrong," Yadav said when asked to comment on the government's promise of giving food security to people.
Yadav's refrain found an echo in the statement of the Communist Party of India-Marxist
Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahay, however, lauded the government's initiatives for empowering the weaker sections, saying a reflection of the governments' commitment towards their empowerment was spelt out in the Presidential address.
