Rajiv Pratap Rudy

Itanagar, Oct. 24: Former Union minister and BJP national spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy today said the Congress-led UPA government’s “flip-flop” policies on power and employment generation had failed to live up to the expectations of the people of the country, especially the Northeast.

Rudy, who arrived here yesterday for a state BJP conclave, said at a news conference that successive Congress governments at the Centre had undermined the interests of the people of the Northeast.

He termed the Congress-led UPA government a “radarless” regime grappling with “inner squabbles” and facing stiff opposition from the Left on the nuke deal.

He also targeted the Congress governments in the northeastern states, including Arunachal Pradesh, saying they had been exposed in many ways.

The BJP leader, who is in charge of the party’s affairs in Arunachal Pradesh, said the confessional statements of arrested Ulfa commander Prabal Neog about the nexus of three ministers with the militant outfit were proof of the presence of skeletons in the Congress’s cupboard in Assam.

Going back to the UPA government, he said: “The flawed policies of the Congress-led government has jeopardised the development of the Northeast, especially Arunachal Pradesh, the newest entrant in the domain of statehood in the Northeast. The Congress governments both at the Centre and in the state have yet to formulate any pragmatic power policy for sufficient power generation in the region,” Rudy said.

“The Congress governments have miserably failed to cash in on the huge potential of the region in the hydropower sector. Frustrated youths of the region are venting their feelings through subversive activities because of the governments’ failure to provide job avenues for unemployed youths,” he added.

Rudy cited the Planning Commission’s estimate about the cost of 20,000mw of power generated through nuclear technology exceeding the cost of generating 60,000mw of power through hydel projects in Arunachal Pradesh as evidence of the UPA pursuing wrong policies.