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Cong. tirade against Raje Government

Special Correspondent

Speakers at rally list Govt.'s omissions and commissions

JAIPUR: The Congress unleashed a major political offensive against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government in Rajasthan on Tuesday by holding a public rally in the State Capital. The party chose the anniversary of the Quit India Day for the move, in which speaker after speaker blamed the BJP Government for "all-pervasive lawlessness'' and "all-round failure'' in the State.

The well-attended rally, first of its kind after the Government led by Vasundhara Raje took over in December 2003, was addressed by two Union Ministers from Rajasthan, Sis Ram Ola and Namonarain Meena, three former Chief Ministers -- Shiv Charan Mathur, Jagannath Pahadia and Ashok Gehlot -- and the Congress general secretary in charge for Rajasthan Mukul Wasnik.

The Congress leaders listed a variety of areas -- ranging from frequent police firings, mismanagement, corruption, feudal tendencies of the Chief Minister and growing communal discord -- to strike the Raje Government on the eve of the elections scheduled to 126 municipal bodies in the State. "The Congress campaign is to get rid of the BJP Government to save Rajasthan,'' PCC president B.D.Kalla said.

The missing tigers in Sariska and Ranthambhore sanctuaries also figured in the list of failures of the Raje Government which Mr.Gehlot termed as "nikkamma sarkar''. "The Government here does not have any idea about the suffering of the common man,'' he charged.

"We are not going to make things any easy for the Government,'' Mr.Ola said in his address. "The tolerance level has reached its limits. We will fight this oppressive regime. The kind of arrogance shown by Ms.Raje is not becoming of a Chief Minister in a democracy,'' Mr.Wasnik said.

The rally assumes significance in the context of it being the first Congress rally in the Capital after the taking over of the UPA Government at the Centre. For young MPs like Sachin Pilot it was the first State-level exposure after the Lok Sabha polls. At the end of the four-hour long meeting, during which the public listened to the leaders despite the oppressive heat, Mr.Kalla led a delegation to Rajasthan Governor Patibha Patil, to submit a memorandum to her.

The memorandum which listed the failures of the Government and the atrocities on farmers, Dalits, religious minorities and women sought the Governor's recommendation to the President for the dismissal of the State Government.

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