Patna, Feb. 4: With the UPA government at the Centre on backfoot on price rise and corruption issues, the BJP has started talking about launching a nationwide political movement against the central government. The party would use its workers’ felicitation meet, to be held here on Saturday, for preparing the ground for this movement.
Indication in this regard has come from the BJP national general secretary, Dharmendra Pradhan, who is in the town to take part in the rally. “The workers’ meet will help in giving the right direction to the political movement against the UPA government,” Pradhan, also the co-in-charge of the Bihar BJP, told reporters today.
Refusing to give a direct reply to queries on whether the BJP would use the meet for announcing its preparations for the 2014 general elections, Pradhan said: “Being the main Opposition party of the country, the BJP is duty-bound to expose the corrupt government of the UPA.”
Leaving scope for speculation, Pradhan said: “We should leave some points which will come up in the workers’ meet.”
Rubbishing claims that the BJP meet was also a message to its alliance partner about the strength of the party, Pradhan said: “The JD(U) is our ally and there is no point in indulging in such exercise.”
Firing salvo at the Congress general secretary, Rahul Gandhi, for his comment that corruption should be checked and black money in foreign banks should be brought back to India, Pradhan said: “It was a crude joke on the people of India as no one has stopped him from doing so with the Congress-led government in power at the Centre.”
He also criticised Primer Minister Manmohan Singh for his failure to tame the price rise even though he had promised to do so within 100 days of formation of the UPA government at the Centre in 2009. “Just the opposite has happened,” he said.
Reiterating the BJP’s demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into corruption cases, Pradhan said the BJP was not the only party demanding it.
Rather all the opposition parties are demanding such a probe, he added.
