Fall of government imminent, mid-term polls soon: Advani

New Delhi, Aug 20 (UNI) Predicting the fall of the present government ''shortly'', senior BJP leader L K Advani today said mid-term polls were inevitable because of the ''self-created'' crisis by the Congress on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Addressing a largely-attended 'kisan rally' at the Ramlila grounds here, the BJP stalwart said it was only a matter of time that the government at the Centre would fall. ''The fall is inevitable. Whether it takes two months or six months this has to be seen, but ultimately this government will fall and elections will be held soon,'' he asserted.

Stressing that the people were ''fed-up'' of this corrupt government and wanted to get rid of its inefficient rule, Mr Advani said the present crisis on the nuclear accord with the US was self-created by the government and the Congress itself was responsible for it.

Calling the government anti-farmer and anti-people for ignoring the lot of peasants and the agriculture sector as well as its inept handling of mass suicides by farmers in Vidarbha and Andhra Pradesh, the former Deputy Prime Minister said never in the history of the world had mass suicides taken place due to debts and the government did nothing but stood as a mute spectator.

''Only after the UPA government came to power such suicides were reported and the government did nothing to ameliorate their lot leading to deaths continuing for months at a stretch,'' he added.

Advocating investment in villages, besides cities, Mr Advani said better irrigation facilities for farmers could be a first step in this direction.

BJP president Rajnath Singh said farmers who were the country's 'bhagya vidhata' (destiny makers) had been left in the lurch by the present government while formulating policies and development schemes.

''Food grain production was moving at a slower pace than the rate of population growth which was an alarming signal. This was because the farmers were getting a raw deal and agriculture sector being ignored,'' he averred.

Accusing the government of being hand in glove with black-marketeers and big corporate houses because of its purposeful less procurement of wheat at a mere nine per cent in 2005-06, as compared to 20-30 per cent every year, the BJP chief demanded a probe into the wheat import scam by a joint parliamentary committee.

On the present crisis, Mr Singh said while the UPA had surrendered the interests of the country before the US, the NDA had dealt with it on a par during its regime.

The rally, among others, was attended by senior party leaders M M Joshi, M Venkaiah Naidu, Gopinath Munde, M A Naqvi. Former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, who was also to address the 'kisan rally', did not turn up due to health reasons.

Demanding a JPC probe into the wheat import scam, agricultural loan at four per cent, immediate payment of dues to cane growers, timely supply of seed and fertilisers and immediate upward review of minimum support price of all crops, the rallyists, led by Mr Advani, later started for a 'march' to parliament but were stopped near Ambedkar Stadium by the police.

Mr Advani, Mr Rajnath Singh, Mr Gopinath Munde and Mr M A Naqvi later courted arrest there in protest. Police said they were detained for a while before being 'released'.

Farmers from Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Chhattisgarh attended the rally.

UNI