BJP raising terror bogey to divert its failures: Rahul

Raipur, Nov 17(UNI) Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi today said that BJP was raising the issue of terrorism only to divert the peoples' attention from non-development in Chhattisgarh.

Congress was fighting against terrorism in a big way and it was the only party which can counter it in an effective manner, he said.

Addressing an election meeting in the state capital on the last leg of poll campaigning, Mr Gandhi said raking up the issue of terrorism in Chhattisgarh state polls proved that they (BJP) do not want to talk about development as they had done nothing in the last five years.

''Can BJP justify about release of terrorists for releasing the hijacked aircraft'', he questioned.''Congress government had always dealt with terrorism with a strong hand and never compromised on any issue like BJP did'', he said.

In his six minute speech, the Congress General Secretary said the BJP government in the state had misused Rs 8000 crore sent by the centre for the upliftment of the poor through National Rural Employment Gurantee Scheme(NREGs) and Midday meal for the school children and other programmes.

He claimed the UPA government of the centre could be called as a 'peoples government' as it had done tremendous works for the common masses during the last five years.

Appealing to the people to give their votes to Congress candidates in four assembly seats of Raipur, he said only Congress talks about problem of masses and can accelerate the pace of development in the state.

Earlier, Mr Gandhi started his address in Chhattisgarhi dialect saying ''Chhattisgarhia Sable Badia'' (Chhattisgarh is the best).

Later he switched on to Hindi.

AICC Treasurer Moti Lal Vora, who along with former Union Minister Vidya Charan Shukla accompanied Mr Gandhi, said that only Congress government could give stability and development in the state.

Mr Shukla in his address urged the Congress to give an united fight against the BJP.''Bickerings in the party had given a scope to the BJP to wrest power from the party in 2003'', he said.

Before his election meeting here, the AICC General Secretary addressed meetings at Ambikapur, Kunkuri and Korba where polling is scheduled in the second phase on November 20. This was the third and last election tour of Mr Gandhi even as Congress President Sonia Gandhi did not participate in the poll campaigning in Chhattisgarh.

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