Gadkari slams UPA for corruption, resolution on northeast passed (Night Lead)

GUWAHATI - The first day of the two-day national executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended Saturday with the party launching a blistering attack on the UPA government on charges of rampant corruption, while passing a resolution on the northeast keeping an eye on the upcoming assembly elections in Assam.

“The 20-month old rule of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) 2 has proved to be a disaster. Everyday, the nation is waking up to a new scam. And while looters were emptying the government coffers, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was standing guard with his eyes closed and, perhaps, hands tied, BJP president Nitin Gadkari said in his inaugural speech.

“What people are asking the UPA are only few simple questions: Why are you shying away from JPC? What are you afraid of? From Tul Mohan Rams and Nagarwalas to Warren Andersons and Ottavio Quattrochis, why have those entire guilty always escaped punishment, the BJP president went on in lambasting the Congress.

The inaugural session of the national executive was held behind closed doors at a city hotel overlooking the river Brahmaputra with about 300 national BJP leaders taking part.

“The victory of Bihar has stirred and inspired the workers around the country and there is a wide-held belief now that in 2014, the NDA under the leadership of the BJP would form the government,” Gadkari was quoted as saying by the BJP general secretary Ravi Shankar Prasad.

“Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, and Pondicherry are going to the polls this year and the party has taken a very serious view of the elections and going all out in winning the polls,” Prasad said.

The first day saw a resolution adopted on the Northeast - with special focus on Assam.

“By and large the northeastern states are ruled by the Congress and everywhere we find pockets of infiltration, terror, extortion, and corruption. The BJP has pledged to reach out to all these states and work towards rooting out all evils in the region,” BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

Gadkari said the party would be able to form the next government in Assam by ousting the Congress from power in the upcoming assembly elections due in the next couple of months.

“The BJP is confident of forming a government in Assam as the people have been fed up with rampant corruption and scams in the state,” he told journalists on the sidelines of the meeting.

He also cited a Vision Document for the Northeast, an agenda to boost development and bring about a social change in the region by way of good governance and strategies.

Gadkari’s inaugural speech was laced with venom, targeting the Congress party on the issue of corruption, price rise, and terrorism.

“The northeast has also prominently figured in the speech with mention being made that it is a commonwealth of corruption in the northeast with Congress leaders of the region trying to compete with their counterparts in New Delhi,” Prasad said.

“Wrong policies and bad governance are reasons for corruption and price rise.”

The BJP president also mentioned the “double standards” of the UPA government in dealing with terrorism, while expressing concern over the Naxal (Maoist) problem and Bangladeshi infiltration issue.

“UPA’s track record on the front of fighting against terrorism is also extremely poor. On the Kashmir front, the interlocutors continue to be confused and unclear about their own task. A similar rudderlessness prevails in tackling the Naxal issue,” Gadkari sad

Whenever the Congress is mired in corruption cases or scams they raise the bogey of Hindu terrorism by linking the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh) and others. For us terrorism has no religion, Prasad said.

Gadkari also talked about building the Ram temple at Ayodhya.

Country first, party thereafter, and myself thereafter is what Nitin Gadkari said in his speech, Prasad said.

The BJP president also announced to mark Oct 21, 2011 as ‘day of remembrance and obligation’ coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the formation of the party.

The BJP president complimented the party workers and leaders for the extraordinary achievements during the last one year of his tenure and owned up responsibility for all the shortcomings during the same period, Prasad said.

The political resolutions are expected to be taken Sunday when the national executive meets on the concluding day.

A massive public rally is expected to be the highpoint of the two-day meet.