Sonia Gandhi tears into BJP in Karnataka

Mangalore, Oct 19: UPA chairperson

on Thursday tore into the

here in the latter's stronghold in coastal

and accused the saffron party of leading corrupt governments in several states of the country, including Karnataka.

The Congress president alleged that the BJP was just pretending to fight against corruption and said that the people of Karnataka were fed up with the corrupt government in their state.

Terming corruption as cancer that affects the poor the most, Sonia said that no other party could match the UPA in fighting corruption. She backed up her claim by saying that the UPA government brought the RTI for the Congress has a genuine concern about wiping out corruption. She also slammed the BJP, saying it was the latter who did not allow the passage of the Lokpal bill in the Rajya Sabha.

Sonia Gandhi also spoke on the reasons that forced the government to hike diesel price and cap on the number of subsidised LPG cylinders. She said it was necessary for the Centre to manage its finances wisely while ensuring that its poverty-alleviation programmes were sustained.

Questioning the reluctance of the BJP-ruled states to follow the Congress in raising the LPG cap to nine, the Congress chief said it was also the responsibility of the BJP to see that problems of the common man are minimised. She also lashed out at the Karnataka government for not lowering VAT on motor fuel.

She said the BJP did not care about the farmers and that it was revealing its double-standards by opposing foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail. She pointed out that the same BJP had backed FDI when it was in power. She said the main beneficiary of the FDI will be the consumers for they will have to pay less. She also said that farmers will be benefited by the FDI for it will allow them to have a direct access to the market.

The Congress chief also accused the BJP of dividing coastal Karnataka on communal lines.

OneIndia News