Samjhauta Express blast act to tarnish India's image: Vajpayee

Dehra Dun, Feb 19 (UNI) Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today charged ''people who wanted to tarnish the image of India'' with responsibility for the blast on the Delhi-Lahore Samjhauta Express in which at least 60 people, mostly Pakistani, were killed.

Addressing a rally at Srinagar, Garhwal on the last day of campaign for Assembly elections in the state, he said, ''Pakistan has not yet given up terrorism and it has been instrumental in conducting several terrorist strikes in India''.

Reprimanding Congress government in the state, Mr Vajpayee said that the public had expected that it would perform well in its five year tenure but inflation and unemployment have spiraled out of limit. Terming it a ''Past Government'' he said it made 2447 announcements, but could only fulfill 943 of them. ''The Congress government could be termed as third rate government,'' he said, adding that it has become essential that Congress is voted out of power and BJP is installed for the state to achieve prosperity.

The octogenarian BJP stalwart said that NDA government had conferred status of a special state to Uttarakhand and rebate for setting up of industries, adding that however, the Congress government had failed to provide requisite facilities. He maintained that given opportunity, the BJP government would curb inflation and generate employment opportunities for the youth and take state to a new horizon of prosperity.

UNI