Shanta accuses of Congress fomenting trouble in Punjab

Shimla, May 19 (UNI) BJP vice president and former union minister Shanta Kumar today accused the Congress Party of fomenting trouble in Punjab and appealed to the people to maintain peace and harmony.

''It is the character of the Congress to create trouble, when out of power, and whatever is happening in Punjab was a result of that,'' he said at a press conference here.

Mr Kumar alleged that the terrorism and rise of Bhinderawale was a gameplan of the Congress that left the state troubled for years. ''It was the same gameplan being played again'', he charged.

Appealing to the Punjab Government to control the situation without any delay and ensure that peace and harmony was restored, he termed the recent developments in Punjab ''unfortunate'' and these things always happened when Congress was out of power.'' He asked the Centre to initiate steps to reduce poverty and unemployment in the country and said that these were breeding grounds for rise of terrorism and naxalism.

About 160 districts of the country were affected by terrorism and naxalism and government had no control over the administration, he charged.

The former union minister said the terrorists and naxalites were running parallel governments in several districts in the country and the government had been reduced to being a ''mere spectator'' in these pockets.

UNI