The Hindu : Cong. indulging in pre-poll gimmicks: BJP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 08, 2003

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National

Cong. indulging in pre-poll gimmicks: BJP

By Our Staff Reporter

Shimla JULY 7. The Himachal Pradesh unit of the BJP has said that the Congress always indulged in gimmicks before the general elections and that the party's ongoing "vichar manthan shivir" (brainstorming session), here was part of that.

A BJP spokesperson said today that Congress' slogan of "garibi hatao", first made in 1972, could never be realised. After that, the Congress had talked of unity and integrity and the country had come in the grip of terrorism leading to its own Prime Minister being assassinated. The spokesperson said that contrary to the Congress claim that it would bring down the prices of essential commodities in 100 days, the prices rose by 100 per cent in 100 days. It was the BJP, he said, that had brought a halt to the rising inflation.

This party should change its "Congress ka hath garibon ke sath" slogan as a number of its State Governments have even failed to distribute foodgrains to the poor under the Antodaya yojna, he said.

In Himachal, the Congress had promised a job to every family before the elections but imposed a ban on recruitment after coming to power, the spokesperson alleged. The Virbhadra Singh Government was terrorising the employees for not toeing its line, he said. The BJP also criticised the vindictive attitude of the Congress Government and its undemocratic functioning and cited the example of employees' trade union rights being snatched.

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