The Hindu : Front Page : NDA only alternative to UPA, says BJP at Patna rally

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NDA only alternative to UPA, says BJP at Patna rally

Shoumojit Banerjee

Leaders attack inability to tackle surging inflation and corruption

‘String of scandals had exposed true face of Congress'
Sibal gave evasive answers on 2G: Jaitley

— Photo: Ranjeet Kumar

TARGETING CENTRE:Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ananth Kumar (right), national party president Nitin Gadkari and the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley at a rally in Patna on Saturday.

Patna: Seeking to cash in on its massive electoral mandate in Bihar in its battle against the United Progressive Alliance, the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership led by Nitin Gadkari on Saturday claimed the “National Democratic Alliance is the only alternative” to the UPA government in the next Parliamentary elections.

At a large rally held here to felicitate party workers for the success in the Assembly polls, senior BJP leaders attacked the UPA leadership for its inability to tackle surging inflation and for failing to check sky-high corruption.

The NDA led by Nitish Kumar swept 207 of the 243 seats in the recent Assembly elections, with the BJP bagging 92 of the 102 it contested, and its ally, the Janata Dal United snaring 115, decimating the Opposition in the process.

Holding the Congress responsible for the CWG, the 2G spectrum, and the Adarsh Housing Society scams, Mr. Gadkari said the money lost could have been used to change the face of rural India.

Targeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for failing to name those who had stashed away money in Swiss banks, Mr. Gadkari said every Indian would have gained Rs. 2.34 lakh had the money parked abroad been retrieved by the Central government.

“Instead, the Congress leadership has not made any effort to do so,” Mr. Gadkari remarked, contrasting the Centre's allegedly corrupt governance with that of the clean regime provided by the Nitish Kumar-Sushil Modi-led NDA coalition.

Mr. Gadkari charged that regional parties such as Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal had been plundering the State, alongwith the Congress, for the last decade and a half, till the NDA formed its government in 2005.

Stating that the “string of scandals had exposed the true face of the Congress party,” senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley remarked that the 2G spectrum irregularities were unparalleled.

Suggesting that parliamentary elections could be held anytime in the near future, Mr. Jaitley commented that nepotism and expediency had always marked the Congress' policies.

‘Why is it that the Telecommunications portfolio has been consistently allocated to a prominent member from the DMK?” he asked, referring to the former Telecom Minister, A. Raja, while accusing the present Communications Minister Kapil Sibal of providing “evasive” and “misleading answers” that glossed over the losses incurred in the allocation of 2G spectrum licences.

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