Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi said on Thursday that the names of the government’s schemes were indeed “catchy and colourful”, but added that they were just “recycled” forms of plans launched by the previous regime. She called it a “game of maximum publicity, minimum government” or “maximum marketing, minimum delivery”.

Gandhi was addressing a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party, of which she is the chairperson. This was the CPP’s first meeting since her son, Rahul Gandhi, succeeded her as the party president in December 2017.

Referring to the new president, Sonia Gandhi told party workers, “He is now my boss too – let there be no doubt about that.” Citing the party’s performance in the Gujarat Assembly elections and bye-elections in Rajasthan, she said the process to “revive our party’s fortunes” has begun.

“This government announces what it calls new programmes and initiatives ever so often, unveiling them with the flourish of a magician,” Gandhi said. “In reality, they are simply recycled schemes that were launched during the UPA government. True, the new names are catchy and colourful, perhaps much more so than during our time, we must admit.”

In her address, she also attacked the government for the “systemic assault” on institutions and the erosion of the “pluralistic nature of our society”. She also talked about the agrarian distress, unemployment and the Kashmir unrest.