BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha tries to blow the conch as the party’s Bihar affairs in-charge Anantha Kumar (left) looks on, at the BJP’s anti-corruption meet at SK Memorial Hall in Patna on Monday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, June 27: It was supposed to be a shankhnad (blowing of conch shell) against corruption and price rise. But the shell refused to blow. Even the efforts of actor-cum-BJP leader, Shatrughan Sinha went futile.

The BJP leaders, however, were quick to compensate their inability to blow the conch by speaking on corruption and price rise at the top of their voices, aptly aided by the public address system.

The party, which is a part of the ruling alliance in Bihar, had organised a shankhnad rally on the 36th year of the 1975 Emergency.

Senior BJP leaders, including the Bihar affairs in-charge, Anantha Kumar, general secretary Ravishankar Prasad, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi along with “Shotgun” and state party patriarch, Kailashpati Mishra used the occasion to predict mid-term polls and the collapse of the Manmohan Singh government the way Indira Gandhi government had collapsed after the Emergency in 1975.

Anantha Kumar tried to lace his speech with dramatics after Shatrughan’s efforts with the conch shell ended in an anti-climax. “Kamal Hassan and Rati Agnihotri acted in an old film named Ek Duje Ke Liye. A new film is coming up with the title ‘Ek 2G Ke Liye’. Manmohan (Singh) is the director of the film while Sonia (Gandhi) is its producer. And P. Chidambaram is the music composer.”

The BJP leaders patted on their back by showcasing the achievements of the Nitish Kumar-Sushil Modi government while coming down hard on the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and Congress president Sonia Gandhi for “shielding” the corrupt ministers and breaking the back of the common man by raising the prices of petroleum products.

“The Bofors scam and fodder scam had so far shocked the nation. But the amount involved in the 2G spectrum case and Commonwealth Games scandal are simply mind boggling,” Prasad said. On this Anantha said: “While the spectrum scam involves Rs 1.76 crore the Commonwealth Games scandal involves Rs 76,000 crore.”

The BJP leaders predicted it was the turn of the Union home minister, P. Chidambaram, to go to jail after Suresh Kalmadi, D. Raja and Kanimozhi. “Tihar jail should be named as Sonia Vihar keeping in view that the Congress president patronised the corrupt elements in the Manmohan Singh ministry,” Anantha quipped.

The BJP leaders lashed out at the Centre for “torturing” the saint-like Baba Ramdev and social activist Anna Hazare. “It is kaliyuga in its true sense and the government is now targeting saints and yogis. But the phase will not last as the mid-term polls will take place in 2012, ending the kaliyuga,” Shotgun, who represents Patna Sahib in the Lok Sabha, said.

The BJP leaders countered the Centre’s logic that the rise in the prices of the petroleum products were linked to the rise in the price of crude oil in the international market and also loss being incurred by the oil companies.

Prasad pointed out that IOC, ONGC, Bharat Petroleum, among other oil companies had recorded profits.

The BJP’s show in the state under the NDA rule was quite impressive with the 2200 seat SK Memorial hall packed to its capacity. The party leaders, however, had hardly anything to show except the achievements of the NDA government in Bihar in launching the shankhand against Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh dispensation.