Congress has soft corner for rich: Ram Naik

Kolhapur, Sep 2: Senior BJP leader and former Union Petroleum Minister Ram Naik on Tuesday, Sep 2 alleged that the UPA government's 'soft corner' for the rich was indicated by the fact that it had reduced the price of jet fuel but not of petrol and diesel.

Addressing a news conference here, Mr Naik alleged that the Congress had four years ago made a false promise that 'Congress ka hat aam aadmee ke sath' (Congress' hand is with the commonman), but the government failed to control the prices of petrol and diesel to provide relief to the people.

The prices of essential commodities continued to rise. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar were responsible for this, he claimed.

In such circumstances, the Congress would not dare call for early Lok Sabha elections as they know they won't retain power, he said.

Criticising actor-turned-Congress MP Govinda, who had defeated him in the last Lok Sabha polls, Mr Naik alleged that he attended Parliament session for only 39 days and raised only two questions during the zero hour.

He alleged that people in Govinda's constituency were disappointed in him as he had turned his back on them and ignored the welfare of the people. Even the Congress party workers were unhappy over his style of functionning, he added.

Referring to the dispute between Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, Mr Naik said the tussle between the two for the chair had been going on for the last two years.

UNI