Sonia slams BJP for naxalism in Chhattisgarh

Kharsia, Chhattisgarh, Nov 18 (UNI) Promising a transparent and people-oriented future government in Chhattisgarh, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi today lambasted the state's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime for spiralling naxal violence and backwardness.

''The present government overlooked people's problems and was only involved in scams and corruption throughout its five-year tenure,'' she said.

Ms Gandhi alleged that naxalism spurted in the state during BJP rule while backwardness pushed Chhattisgarh into the last row.

Addressing her maiden poll meeting -- of these assembly hustings -- here, she claimed that the UPA regime never discriminated against any state in providing central assistance.

''The Centre has given Chhattisgarh more than Rs 8,000 crore but the entire amount was siphoned off through scams and the condition of people deteriorated,'' she alleged.

Asking people to judge the BJP for themselves, Ms Gandhi said though both the Congress and BJP are political parties their ideologies differed. ''While the BJP believes in dishonesty, corruption and communal violence, the Congress on the other hand goes on the lines of providing clean and transparent government,'' she claimed.

Ms Gandhi said that Chhattisgarh, once known as a beautiful and peaceful state, had degenerated into a land of violence, nil development and corruption. ''Only a Congress regime in this state can fulfil people's dreams and revive the tarnished glory,'' she claimed.

Mentioning sacrifices by former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, the Congress chief said that her party and its leaders always kept the country above personal interests while other parties were concerned about their own well-being and to garner votes through undemocratic means.

Lauding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's efforts vis-a-vis launching several schemes for uplift of the poor, she alleged that Chhattisgarh's BJP regime paid scant attention to these schemes due to which the masses did not benefit.

Congress Treasurer Motilal Vora, ex-chief minister Ajit Jogi and former Union minister Vidya Charan Shukla also addressed the gathering.

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