Shimla, October 30
Stepping up the offensive against the BJP in the final leg of electioneering, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi today came down heavily on Chief Minister PK Dhumal for “levelling false accusation that the Centre was discriminating against the state.”

“The BJP has been adopting double standards on the issue of corruption, targeting Congress leaders but not taking any action against its own leaders facing serious graft charges. In contrast, the Congress has acted against all such leaders,” Sonia said while addressing a rally on the historic Ridge.

“The Congress won’t allow the BJP to get away with this dual policy. The party was against the Congress and not against corruption,” said the UPA chief.

“It was the Congress-led government which gave people the Right to Information, the most effective tool to combat corruption. It had also passed the Lokpal Bill in the Lok Sabha with the same intention but the BJP stalled it in the Rajya Sabha,” said Sonia.

She also took the BJP to task on the issue of price rise and said the states ruled by it were not doing their bit in combating inflation. Price rise was a serious problem affecting common man and the UPA regime was taking effective steps to check it. “The Congress-ruled states have decided to give three additional subsidised LPG

cylinders to consumers. The states ruled by the BJP, including Himachal, have not taken such a step,” said the AICC chief.

Sonia lambasted the BJP for its failure to take benefit of various Central schemes, particularly the MNREGA and the JNNURM. “The BJP government owes an explanation to people.

With such a dismal track record, the allegation of the BJP that the UPA regime was discriminating against the state is totally false and baseless. The electorate won’t get misled by such false propaganda,” said the Congress chief.

The Centre had been providing liberal financial assistance to the state but it was not reaching the people who were suffering due to bad conditions of roads, lack of doctors in health institutions and teachers in educational institutions, she said.

The development activity has come to a halt in the state in the last five years, Sonia claimed.

“The Centre decided to bring the FDI to ensure remunerative returns to farmers and make available various commodities to consumers at reasonable rates. The BJP was against the move even though the government had left it to the states to take a call on it. It was in the interest of the farmers as it would help in strengthening the post-harvesting infrastructure like cold stores the lack of which results in wastage of produce,” said the UPA chairperson.

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma launched a scathing attack on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra for using “intemperate” language against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and said the level of political debate had hit the nadir with his with his (Modi’s) undignified utterances. It reflected the thinking and culture of the BJP, said Sharma.