UPA lost moral rights to govern the country; BJP

Bhubaneswar, Jul 27 (UNI) The Congress-led UPA government has no moral right to rule the country in the wake of the July 22 trust vote bribe scandal, BJP vice-president Juel Oram today said.

Launching a scathing attack at a meeting organised here as part of the party's nationwide protest against the Congress, Mr Oram said corruption was a 'culture' of that party.

''It can go to any length to remain in power,'' he said and appealed to the people to defeat the UPA in the coming election.

The BJP leader said Indira Gandhi had imposed emergency to remain in power. In 1996, the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao had bribed JMM leaders to stick to power.

He said the unprecedented rise in the prices of goods was due to their indulgence in corruption and appealed to the people to take a pledge to defeat the ''corrupt'' Congress party.

Partys state unit president Suresh Pujari accused the Congress of lowering the image of the Indian democracy in the world by bribing MPs to win votes.

''By winning the trust vote they may remain in power for the next six months, but the people will ensure that the Congress stays out of power for the next 60 years,'' he added.

Partys national General Secretary Dharmendra Pradhan said after the July 22 incident the Manmohan Singh government had no moral right to rule. The Congress, he added, had lost both morality and popular support.

Mr Pradhan scotched the Congress claim that the proposed nuclear deal would meet the power requirement, saying it would hardly meet even five per cent of the power requirement in the next 20 years.

Senior leader and state Revenue Minister Manmohan Samal said the integrity of the country is in danger under the Congress rule as terrorists were striking at will, killing innocent people.

He cited the example of the recent bomb blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad. Instead of making stringent rule to control the menance the government had withdrawn POTA, he rued.

BJP Legislature Party leader and Law Minister Biswa Bhusan Harichandan also criticised the Congress and JMM for their role during the trust vote.

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