BJP Questions Congress Over Pension Poll Promise After ‘U-turn’ Jibe

BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday questioned Congress, saying when the party will meet its election promises, particularly one related to pension. This comes after Congress earlier expressed its delight at the introduction of the Unified Pension Scheme.

Congress has termed the move as rollback of the BJP-led government. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge had taunted the BJP, saying the U in the UPS stands for "U-turn", which he added, was becoming a feature of the third term of the BJP-led government.

"I want to ask Rahul Gandhi -- has his government implemented the Old Pension Scheme as promised in Himachal Pradesh?" said Prasad, a former Union minister who handled the law portfolio, NDTV reported.

"The Congress party has become so wary of the palpable falsehood of its assurance about pension, it could not muster the courage to include that as a part of its manifesto in the Lok Sabha elections," he was quoted as saying.

"Governing India is a serious business... The Congress party just makes announcements to garner votes and now the public has lost trust in its decisions," he added.

The Unified Pension Scheme retains most of the features of the pre-2004 Old Pension Scheme, and assures government employees 50 per cent of their last drawn basic pay as a lifelong monthly benefit.

Under the New Pension Scheme, introduced by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2004, pension payouts were linked to the contributions made by government and the employee.

The United Pension Scheme, which will be in force from April 2025, will be a contributory scheme. The employees are expected to pay 10 per cent while the government will put in 18.5 per cent. The latter figure may even increase.