The Hindu : New Delhi News : Congress is a heartless party, says BJP

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New Delhi

Congress is a heartless party, says BJP

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley said over the week-end that as per his party’s assessment “the possibility of formation of a Congress-led Government at the Centre is very remote, non-existent”.

People have realised from the all-round price rise and loss of jobs that “the Congress no longer has compassion for them and it is a heartless party”, he charged.

Speaking at the launch of a party website www.bjpdelhi.org at the Delhi BJP office, Mr. Jaitley said after three phases of polling one thing was clear: barring the Left-influenced West Bengal and Kerala, in the rest of the country the anti-Congress groups have done well. “In Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, too, the anti-Congress parties are gaining,” he added.

Claiming that the NDA would be winning 70 to 80 per cent of the seats contested by it in most of the States, Mr. Jaitley said he was confident that the NDA would form the next Government as “the Congress loss in Andhra Pradesh and the BJP’s gain in U.P. has been the game changer”.

‘No truck with BSP’

As for post-poll alliances, Mr. Jaitley ruled out any truck with the Bahujan Samaj Party and said UP had seen a major change in the past two years. Before 2007, people had tried out the Samajwadi Party and post-2007 they had seen the BSP.

“Now a big segment of the voters has rejected both these parties,” he claimed. The BJP, he said, was on the rise in Uttar Pradesh and Varun Gandhi was one of the factors.

The BJP leader said poor management of the economy, because of which on the one hand there was a marked rise in prices of edible commodities and on the other there had been large-scale closure of industry and loss of jobs in the private sector, hitting the people hard. “In Delhi and the National Capital Region in particular, a large number of people have been rendered jobless,” he added

“Security,” he said, “is another issue. There have been 67 blasts in the country in the past five years and the weak UPA Government has been unable to handle the situation”.

In such a scenario, Mr. Jaitley said, the Congress campaign around “Jai Ho!.....” and enthusiasm about the future “appears to be a cruel joke on the people”.

As for Delhi, he said, water, power and increase in school fees would be the major local issues. “School fees hike is something that has been inflicted by the Delhi Government. When people are losing jobs, their savings are depleting fast and pay cuts are becoming commonplace, the increase in school fees and payment of arrears has become tough for the people. The Government could have handled it better,” he said.

Mr. Jaitley also accused the Congress of not doing enough to improve the traffic situation.

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