BJP: President must have read an old speech

As expected, the BJP today said that President Pranab Mukherjee's joint address to Parliament, was a damp squib.

"It has not actually touched upon what is relevant today and we are very disappointed," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said outside Parliament after the President's address.

Rudy also dubbed the address as a "old one". "I think he read the old speech because there was nothing new thing in the speech," Rudy said.

In the hour-long maiden address to the joint sitting of Parliament, Mukherjee touched upon various issues like slower growth of economy and steps to deal with factors responsible for the slowdown.

"The President has given a joint statement in both Houses. It has not referred to the issue of corruption after all. UPA government is besieged with charges of corruption especially in the latest copter case," Rudy said. He said the government did not talk about corruption deliberately. "Since this seems to be the last joint session before the election, I think by design government has chosen not to talk about corruption and other factors about inflation and price rise, which is affecting every household. Petrol and diesel prices are constantly going up," he said.