By IANS
New Delhi : The Congress party will have to pay a heavy price in the coming elections if it failed to check rising inflation, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani said Sunday.
“I wish to forewarn the Congress party. There are several reasons why the people are angry at their rule. But, as far as the price rise is concerned, they will make you pay a heavy price whenever the elections are held,” Advani said.
He was speaking at the party office after the launch of a website on his autobiography, “My Country My Life”.
“Sadly, the common people can hardly rejoice on Padwa (the New Year’s day as per the Indian Vikram Samvat calendar) or celebrate any other festival in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime. Festivity has become unaffordable – indeed, daily living has become a tormenting experience – thanks to the skyrocketing prices of all essential commodities,” said Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha (lower house of Indian parliament).
Advani said prices of food grain, edible oil, sugar, milk, vegetables, fruits, electricity and transportation had gone up, affecting the common man. He added the rising cost of education and health to the list.
Prices have always been a sensitive issue for a party in power. The Congress-led UPA has drawn flak from all political parties, including its coalition partners and the Left, on the issue.
With the Lok Sabha elections due for May 2009 and several states going for assembly polls this year, the Congress and its allies will have to work out strategies to provide relief to the middle class.
The rising inflation has given the BJP a new stick to beat the Congress-led government with.
“We know the kind of post-budget propaganda that the UPA government mounted. But the balloon of the so-called Dream Budget has burst. The government’s own figures show that the inflation rate has risen to seven percent,” Advani said.
BJP president Rajnath Singh, who launched the website, said the Congress was indulging in ‘appeasement politics’ to win the support of a particular community.
“The Congress should answer why capital punishment awarded to Afzal Guru has not been executed till date. They are doing so for the sake of votes. Can they explain the ‘forced circumstances’ for not executing Afzal?” Singh said.
Afzal Guru, an accused in the parliament terror attack case of 2001, has been given a death sentence but his mercy petition is pending before the president.
“The Congress has always abetted terrorism for petty political gains. We had enacted stringent laws such as the POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) to fight terrorism (when we were in power). The UPA government, immediately after assuming office, repealed the POTA to impress upon a particular community,” he alleged.