The BJP-led NDA is bound to return to power at the Centre and the Congress-led UPA government will pay the price for its “failures” in the next parliamentary elections, BJP national president Rajnath Singh has said.
The first step in this direction will be the BJP getting a clear majority in the Assembly elections in Karnataka, he said at an election meeting here on Sunday.
Mr. Singh said only the BJP was capable of providing good governance. The development model of Gujarat, where Narendra Modi is the Chief Minister, should be emulated in the entire country, he said. The party’s government in Chhattisgarh had implemented the “best” public distribution system and the BJP-governed Madhya Pradesh was ahead on the development front compared with Congress-governed States, he said.
Most part of Mr. Singh’s 30-minute speech was devoted to criticising the Congress. Owing to its “wrong” economic policies and rampant corruption, the Congress governments had failed to address several issues, including poverty, he said. He said the Joint Parliamentary Committee, headed by a Congress MP, instead of showing its willingness to listen to the former Minister A. Raja, an accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, had pointed fingers at the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The BJP would not leave the Congress to go scot-free on corruption and would continue its fight both inside and outside Parliament, he said. Mr. Singh said the BJP had little faith in frequent changes in the leadership, but it was forced to change two Chief Ministers in Karnataka due to internal contradictions. The party had a tradition of seeking the resignation of its leaders if charges were filed against them. But, the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa did not understand this tradition and chose to walk away from the party, he said. The party, however, found an honest Chief Minister in Jagadish Shettar, and he would continue to provide good administration if the BJP returned to power, he said. If the BJP returned to power, Mr. Singh said he would advise Mr. Shettar to increase the limit of interest-free crop loan from the present Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh. Earlier, Agriculture Minister Umesh V. Katti, MP Ramesh V. Katti, BJP national executive committee member Prabhakar Kore, MLC Mahantesh Kavatagimath, and party’s candidate for Chikkodi-Sadalga B.R. Sangappagol addressed the gathering. They appealed to the voters to give another opportunity for the BJP to govern the State. Party’s candidates Laxman Savadi (Athani), Raju Kage (Kagwad), Duryodhan Aihole (Raibag) and Shashikala Jolle (Nippani) were present.