May 11: BJP chief Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday accused the SP, BSP and RJD of betraying the people to suit their political needs. He accused these parties of supporting the Congress on the price rise issue when the Congress-led UPA government has “failed to curb spiralling prices of essential commodities”.
“Both the SP and the BSP are at loggerheads with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh. But in Delhi they helped the Congress on the Opposition-sponsored cut motions against price rise,” Mr Gadkari said while addressing Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ambavat) activists, who joined the BJP on Tuesday.
Mr Gadkari said while SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav openly supported the cut motions against rise in fuel prices, they walked out when the same was put to vote in the just-concluded Parliament session.
“Similarly, on Ambedkar Jayanti there was a race between the Congress and BSP to garland the statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar in UP. Then on the day of the cut motions, Mayawatiji decided to side with the Congress,” the BJP chief said. He claimed that the “pressure of the CBI cases forced these leaders to side with the Congress”. Terming the political rivalry between the Congress, SP and BSP in Uttar Pradesh “shadow-boxing”, Mr Gadkari said leaders who “change masks to suit their political needs cannot work for the farmers and the poor”.
He also attacked the UPA for failing to provide any reprieve to the farmers. “From where I come, 10,000 farmers have committed suicide as they have not been able to pay back their loans. While a Mercedes is available at an interest of 8 per cent, tractor loans are available at 12.5 per cent. This the result of the wrong policies of the UPA, PM Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi,” he said.