Manmohan Singh a failure on economic front, says BJP

BHUBANESWAR - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his “poor economic policy” were responsible for the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari said here Tuesday.

“The country is suffering because of the poor economic policy of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,” Gadkari said.

Addressing a press conference at this Orissa capital city, he said the more than six years’ rule of the prime minister has been a saga of utter failure.

“Our economist prime minister has failed miserably to handle our economic situation,” he said.

He also said the Congress party’s wrong economic policy was the reason behind the country’s unemployment, poverty and price rise.

The central government has lost credibility due to its dismal performance in controlling the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities, Gadkari said, adding that the successive hikes in petroleum products were mounting an unbearable burden on the rural poor and the urban middle class.

He said the government appeared to have lost control over the administration and the ministers were busy in a blame game.

The United Progressive Alliance partners are in near revolt, challenging the authority of the prime minister, the BJP chief said.

Citing various scandals like the 2G spectrum scam, Bofors, Commonwealth Games and the Adarsh society fiasco, he said, “The country today looks like a banana republic.”

“I am afraid the country can ill afford such a sorry state of affairs. The political situation is fraught with dangers for democratic institutions with the Manmohan Singh government having lost moral right to continue in the office,” he said.

Gadkari arrived here Monday on a two-day visit.