The Congress on Thursday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “promoted private telecom companies of his friends” at the expense of state-owned BSNL and MTNL.

Addressing a press conference, Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala cited a media report to allege that the Modi government would retrench as many as 54,000 employees of BSNL once the elections were over by advancing the retirement age from 60 to 58 and offering them voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).

The news report, published in a Hindi daily, claimed that state-owned BSNL’s Board of Directors had already taken the decision the downsize to improve its financial health.

“Whose telecom companies are BSNL and MTNL? Of the country’s 130 crore people. Government-owned BSNL and MTNL have been destroyed. Both companies are in debt,” Mr. Surjewala claimed.

In the election season, the Congress is clearly aiming to reach out to the employees of the state-owned telecom companies who are facing a hard time because of delayed salaries and the threat of retrenchment.

“Modi ji has promoted the firms of his capitalist friends. BSNL and MTNL are now on the verge of closure,” alleged the Congress leader.

He said private companies were able to offer lower tariff despite these companies having debts with public banks to the tune of ₹1.3 lakh crore while the Centre had stopped BSNL and MTNL from taking loans.

Mr. Surjewala alleged that the Centre had not allotted 4G spectrum to public sector undertakings, further crippling them.