Congress will be defeated in Goa, Guj, HP: Advani

Panaji, May 22: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha L K Advani today claimed that Congress would be defeated in Goa Assembly polls, and also in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in view of ''the dismal failure of the UPA Government on ten fronts''.

''Its downward slide has begun and it's unpopularity is growing.

On the other hand, barring the recent setback in UP, the BJP and its allies are clearly on a comeback trail,'' Mr Advani told mediapersons here today after winding up his election campaign in the state.

This is evident from the BJP-JD(U) combine's success in wresting power from the RJD-Congress alliance in Bihar in October 2005, recent victory of the BJP in Uttarakhand and the BJP-Akali Dal alliance inflicting a humiliating defeat on the Congress in Punjab, he said.

The fall of the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka and formation of a BJP-JD(S) coalition in its place is also a pointer to the revival of the BJP, he said.

The BJP is in power, either on its own or in alliance, in nine states, which is much more than the number of Congress-ruled states.

Also, the combined strength of the BJP MLAs across the country is much more than that of Congress MLAs.

This will have a bearing on the outcome of the Presidential election to be held soon, he said.

Mr Advani listed ''failure on internal security front'' among the ten major failures of the Congress-led and Communists-supported UPA Government.

He demanded a thorough, expeditious and impartial probe into the recent terrorist attacks in Malegaon, on Samjhauta Express and, most recently, in Hyderabad.

''These acts are of an ominous nature and seem to be designed to provoke large-scale communal violence in India,'' Mr Advani said.

He charged the UPA Government with ''deliberate unwillingness to attend to the needs of internal security'' starting from the repeal of POTA. Since then, it's soft and confused approach in dealing with the menace of ''jehadi'' terrorism has continued unabated, he said.

''Its refusal to carry out the death sentence on Mohammed Afzal, who has been convicted by the Supreme Court in the December 13, 2001 terrorist attack on Indian Parliament, is proof enough that the UPA is ready to stoop to any level to pursue its politics of minorities appeasement,'' Mr Advani said.

Another shocking instance of minorities appeasement was the Government's move to conduct communal census in India's Armed Forces, which was hastily dropped only because of stout opposition from the BJP and all-round public condemnation, including a firm ''No'' from the military fraternity itself, he said.

The Government's failure on the internal security front was also evident from its inaction in respect of the massive and continuing infiltration from Bangladesh. The Supreme Court has termed this ''external aggression against Asom'' and struck down the notorious IMDT Act in Asom as unconstitutional, he said. It has also censured the Centre's attempt to bring it back in another form, he said.

In this connection, he said, the Congress policy of minorities appeasement had not helped, and will not help, the minorities. In fact, it had hurt their vital interests. They should see through the self-serving game of the Congress to seek power on the bogus plank of ''secular unity,'' Mr Advani said.

Another failure he cited was the ''dogmatic and dogged pursuit of the Indo-US Nuclear deal, ignoring concerns expressed by eminent nuclear scientists and security experts, and despite protests from the BJP and some constituents of the UPA itself''.

This has given rise to apprehensions that the leadership of the Congress and UPA is vulnerable to American pressure, he noted.

He criticised UPA's Failure to accelerate the implementation of major infrastructure development projects such as the National Highway Development Project, has led to its slowdown after the exit of the NDA Government.

The power situation in most parts of the country was going from bad to worse and in neighbouring Maharashtra, it was perhaps the worst.

The Government, he said, had also failed to protect the interests of farmers in the shoddily formulated SEZ policy. Similarly, the policy on FDI in retail sector raised genuine apprehensions among lakhs of small traders, apart from fears of dumping of foreign goods in the Indian market.

The Failure to fight the evil of corruption was evident from the Quattrocchi scandal, the Scorpene submarine scandal, and the food-for-oil scandal in Iraq. In each of these, the Government had been caught in the act of cover-up, Mr Advani said.

The failure to deal with criminalization of politics and governance had eroded the credibility of the UPA Government from day one, he said.

The inclusion of persons with proven criminal records in the Union Council of Ministers showed that the UPA was, for the first time, introducing criminalization into the governmental set-up at the Central level. One former Cabinet minister is now behind bars, convicted in a case of murder, he said.

He criticised the Prime Minister for his failure to defend the dignity of his high office was evident from the fact that the real power in the UPA Government is wielded not by him but by 10 Janpath.

''The farce of the chairpersonship of the National Advisory Council ended finally with the office-of-profit controversy. Ms Sonia Gandhi had to resign from her extra-constitutional post in NAC, he said. Mr Advani demanded immediate disbanding of NAC, ''which never served any worthwhile purpose in the first place.'' The failure to contain inflation and the consequent steep rise in the prices of all essential commodities betrayed ''aam aadmi'', on whose name the Congress sought votes in 2004.

The shocking number of farmers' suicides in Congress-run states like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh indicates the failure of the UPA Government to provide relief and revitalization to the agriculture sector, Mr Advani added.

UNI