The Hindu : Karnataka News : Janata Dal (Secular) slams BJP's claims

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 24, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Janata Dal (Secular) slams BJP's claims

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, APRIL 23. The Janata Dal (Secular) has said that the claims made by the Bharatiya Janata Party that it is the only viable alternative to the Congress in the State is false, going by the performance of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government at the Centre.

The Janata Dal (S) spokesmen, M.V. Sriganesh and T. Prabhakar, told presspersons here today that if the Congress Government in the State was anti-farmer, anti-poor, and pro-urban, and if its rule was marked by maladministration, as alleged by the BJP, the performance of the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre was no better.

Nothing was done for the betterment of farmers, and they were driven to suicide across the country although it was more pronounced in Karnataka, he said.

Mr. Sriganesh said that the BJP, which had been continuously airing advertisements through the media about its performance, should go in for introspection before making claims.

The tenure of the NDA Government was marked by several scams that touched Defence deals (Tehelka "expose"), HUDCO (Housing and Urban Development Corporation), UTI (Unit Trust of India), LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), petrol pump, and public sector disinvestment scams. "It is akin to a pot calling the kettle black," he remarked.

Although the Janata Dal (S) agreed with the BJP's complaints against the Congress in the State, it had no moral right to make a claim to form the next government.

It was only the Janata Dal (S) which could lay claim to form the next government in the State, particularly after the good showing of the party governments between 1983 and 1989, and between 1994 and 1999,a according to the spokesmen.

Stand on online lotteries

The BJP manifesto made no mention of the party's stand on online lottery which had become a curse for many families in both urban and rural areas, they said.

While the Janata Dal (S) had categorically stated that it would ban all forms of lottery in the State, the BJP leaders, who protested against the operation of the lottery schemes and demanded their ban while speaking in the two Houses of the Legislature, were now caught in a bind since the party had made no mention of them in its election manifesto.

AP's projects

The NDA Government, the spokesmen alleged, had worked against the State's interests in the Krishna waters issue and turned a blind eye to the unauthorised Krishna Basin projects taken up by Andhra Pradesh despite the Karnataka Government raising the matter repeatedly.

Credit should go to the previous Janata Dal Government which spent about Rs. 1,000 crore a year on the Krishna Basin projects and enabled the State to utilise its share of the river waters specified under Scheme `A' of the Bachawat Award.

Referring to the claim that the NDA Government had provided employment to a large number of people in the past five years, Mr. Sriganesh said that with the public sector units and the manufacturing sector in dire straits, nearly one lakh people had been rendered unemployed.

In the information technology (IT) sector, the situation was expected to turn grim in two years owing to the objections in the U.S. and Britain to the outsourcing business.

The National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) had said that nearly 12 lakh people would have employment opportunities in the IT sector by 2008, but even this appeared to be a far-fetched claim going by the latest developments in the IT and biotechnology sectors.

No change in stragety

Asked whether the Janata Dal (S) would change its strategy for the second phase of elections in the State, he said there was no need to do so.

From the beginning, the party had been demanding a debate on various issues confronting the State vis-a-vis the performance of the Congress Government, and this had now started paying dividends. People from all walks of life had been speaking on issues and about what the various political parties could do to tackle the basic problems of the people.

Mr. Sriganesh exuded confidence that the Janata Dal (S) would do well in the elections. There was an undercurrent of support for the Janata Dal (S), and the anti-Congress votes would go in favour of the party, he claimed.

As in 1994, people were in for a surprise as far as the results were concerned, he said.

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