Govt’s ‘jumla package’ way short of what PM Modi had promised: Congress

The Congress on Thursday said the government's economic package has so far fallen way short of what the prime minister had promised the nation and dubbed it as a "jumla package".

Senior spokesperson of the party Anand Sharma said the country believed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was serious when he made the "dramatic" announcement of giving 10 per cent of the GDP as a package to revive the economy and support workers and migrant labourers, and that expectations had soared.

"The finance minister's announcement dashed all hopes," he said.

Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's announcements were nothing but a "jumla package".

Senior party leader Ahmed Patel said, "It is not an economic package. It is an empty package wrapped with speeches since the last three days."

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari pointed out that the finance minister articulated the second tranche of the bailout or economic package that this government has conceptualised.

"It is unfortunate that the entire press conference (of Sitharaman) was a classic display of arrogance, ignorance and insensitivity," he said addressing reporters via a video link.

"We expected that the finance minister would come out with what the government is doing to ferry the migrants who are walking on the roads back to their homes safely.

But nothing like that happened," Tewari said.