Senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh on Thursday said the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre was concerned more about the balancesheets of oil companies than the problems faced by the common people.
Speaking to reporters here, Mr Singh, who was here as part of the BJP’s nationwide campaign against price rise, said the Union government went for fuel price hike even as there was no increase in the crude oil prices. “What was the necessity to increase the fuel rates when there was no hike in crude oil prices? The Central government takes the plea that economic slowdown and inflation were the reasons behind the move to increase fuel prices. But I believe the UPA government’s faulty policies, mismanagement and corrupt practices were the principal causes behind this anti-people measure,” Mr Singh said.
Stating that the fuel price hike had hit hard the common people, the former BJP president said the UPA government should immediately quit power for inflicting “unbearable” economic hardships upon the countrymen. “The UPA government has lost the moral authority to continue in power. If the Congress-led government has courage, it should go for a referendum on the issue of price rise to enable the people decide if it should continue in power or resign,” the BJP stalwart said.
The veteran leader also criticised the UPA government on its Pakistan policy. “The present UPA government had said it would not resume talks with Pakistan unless the latter punished people who were behind the Mumbai attack. But it has started dialogue with that country. Will the UPA government say if Pakistan has really fulfilled its conditions that led to resumption of talks?” he asked.
The ex-BJP president took a swipe at the party’s former ally, the Biju Janata Dal, saying its president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s “greatest achievement” was “farmer suicides.”
“The greatest achievement of the Naveen Patnaik government is farmer suicides. In its blind pursuit of industrialisation, it has completely ignored agriculture sector. Naveen must know that no state or country can develop without taking care of its farmers and nurturing the agriculture sector,” he added.
Maintaining that the public distribution system had collapsed in Orissa, he said foodgrains like wheat and rice were rotting in godowns but the poor people were unable to get the commodities.