Dhawan chides BJP leaders for making ridiculous statements

Shimla, Dec 6 (UNI) AICC general secretary R K Dhawan today criticised the national BJP leaders for making ''ridiculous'' statements and said that their speeches at five rallies held yesterday were "insipid and misleading".

Addressing a press conference here, he said that the BJP leaders claimed that the party had named former Chief minister P K Dhumal as ''bridegroom'' but they were avoiding naming the ''groom'' at the national level.

Mr Dhawan said the BJP was launching a tirade against the Congress leadership by harping on so called dynastic rule and said that it was prejudiced against the Gandhi and Nehru right from the beginning when both the leaders were leading the freedom struggle.

''Is there any BJP leader who went to jail during the freedom struggle' he asked and alleged that some BJP leaders even tendered apology to British Government.

He questioned the moral right of the BJP to make corruption an issue and said that the corruption during the previous BJP government rule was so rampant that the BJP ministers and MLAs made allegations of corruption and discrimination against their own government.

Claiming that the UPA government had been able to control prices, Mr Dhawan said that the Himachal Pradesh government was providing a subsidy of Rs 100 crore to keep prices under control while the situation in BJP ruled states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh was worse.

Replying to a question about repeated assertions of the Chief Minister that he would continue in office even after the elections were held, Mr Dhawan said that the Chief Minister was only explaining the constitutional position.

He said this debate was irrelavent as Congress was all set to return to power after the polls. When asked what would be position if the Congress was defeated in the polls, he said ''I don't answer hypothetical questions''.

He claimed that only Congress could provide a Government which did not discriminate with any section on basis of caste, creed, region or religion and was not vindictive and narrow minded.

The Congress leader claimed that the progress made by the state during past 57 months of Congress rule was spectacular and the state was one of the leading states of the country in some fields.

UNI