Bangalore: Senior Congress leader Pranab Kumar Mukherjee on March 15 accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government of mortgaging the nation and pushing it to a state of bankruptcy.

Addressing a convention of Karnataka Congress unit district and block level presidents called as part of the party's strategy to galvanise it, Mukherjee, a Congress Working Committee (CWC) member, also lashed out at BJP and the sangh parivar for its alleged attempt to divide the nation on the basis of caste, religion and regions.

Quoting the 10th Five Year perspective paper prepared by the Planning Commission, Mukherjee said while the total revenue receipts have come down to the level of Rs 2,35,000 crore, the total debt payment had shot up to Rs 2,88,000 crore, forcing government to go in for borrowing to the tune of Rs 53,000 crore to honour its debt commitments.

This indicated the state of financial crunch the nation has been facing under the NDA rule, he charged, adding that the poor financial situation has resulted in development programmes starving for funds.

During last year, the country's Plan programmes faced Rs 90,000 crore shortage, he said, and ridiculed the claims of BJP of creating 10 million jobs annually while it has been vigorously selling off public sector undertakings (PSUs).

PTI