BJP president Nitin Gadkari today said the party-led Opposition was not working to destablise the Congress-led UPA government and if the mid-term polls are held, it will be only due to the government’s ‘wrong policies and bad governance’. “We are ready whenever elections are held. We are not responsible if mid-term polls are held. It will only because of the UPA’s wrong policies,” Mr Gadkari told a press conference. He said the BJP was not working to destablise the government but if the government ‘falls’, it will only be because of the UPA’s ‘wrong doing’. The UPA has come under ‘crisis’ after its key ally Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress withdrew support after economic decisions taken by the Centre on diesel price and FDI in multi-brand retail.
Mr Gadkari said today’s Bharat Bandh was ‘successful and historic’. The Bandh was called by the BJP-led NDA, the Left, the SP, and several trade bodies against the Centre’s decision to hike diesel price by Rs 5 per litre, allowing FDI in multi-brand retail and fixing limit of six subsidised LPG cooking cylinders per year to the consumers. Normal life was paralysed in most parts of the country due to the Bandh. Mr Gadkari alleged that the government has betrayed Parliament by taking decision on FDI in retail without consulting other political parties. “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Parliament had assured that the government will take a decision on FDI in retail only after consulting all the political parties. But the Congress government has betrayed Parliament,” the BJP president said. Claiming that FDI in retail will severely affect farmers and small traders of the country, he demanded the government immediately withdraw decisions on diesel price, FDI and LPG cylinders. Mr Gadkari said the government took the decision on FDI in retail to ‘divert’ the attention from ‘coalgate’. He thanked the Left, other parties and trade bodies for supporting the bandh. “This is for the first time after the Emergency that different political parties having differences came together,” he expressed. Mr Gadkari said the movement will continue till the government takes back its decisions. Alleging that scams worth Rs 4.38 lakh crore including coal ‘scam’, 2G and Commonwealth Games scams were exposed by the CAG, he demanded the government take action against the people involved in corruption. “The UPA government has lost its credibility due to corruption,” he alleged. UNI