President's address to joint session of Parliament was repeat of words, says Congress' Anand Sharma

Congress on Thursday slammed President Ram Nath Kovind's address to the joint sitting of Parliament as a mere "repeat of words" of the last five years.

Commenting on the President's address, senior party leader Anand Sharma said, "the President's address was a repeat of words, high sounding words which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government are very fond of."

"In the past five years, we have heard words like standup India, startup India and Make in India, while the manufacturing and investments have declined to historic lows," he added.

Sharma, who is the deputy leader of the Congress in Rajya Sabha, said, "The President's address does not give an account of unfulfilled promises of the last 5 years made to our youth and farmers. It did not include anything on unemployment. We want manufacturing to be high and India to become the manufacturing hub but for that lot of work needs to be done."

"When the debate starts on President's address on Monday, we will be speaking in detail in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha to put on record our views and our concerns," he added.

On BJP's allegations that Congress President Rahul Gandhi was looking into his mobile and not listening to President's speech, Sharma said, "Rahul Gandhi was listening to Presidents' speech and I do not want to comment more on such a petty thing."

Earlier today, President Ram Nath Kovind gave his customary address to Parliament in the historic Central Hall after the formation of the 17th Lok Sabha.

( With inputs from ANI )