Sonepat, October 20
The BJP on Sunday said its alliance with the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) was rock solid and both parties would contest Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections jointly.

Addressing a party rally in Sonepat, senior leader Sushma Swaraj said: "The HJC-BJP tie-up is rock solid and the Congress will have to bite the dust at the hustings." BJP president Rajnath Singh accused the Congress of adopting the policy of "divide and rule" to serve its political interests.

He said villagers and farmers had been at the receiving end under various Congress governments in the country. He said if the BJP was voted to power in the next Lok Sabha elections, the prices of fertilisers would be brought down considerably and the interest on crop loans would also be brought between zero and one per cent.

"Inflation and corruption have been the watchwords of the Congress rule in the country," he said. People were not going to tolerate it any more, he added. He said the Manmohan Singh government at the Centre was a remote-controlled government that was indecisive in its working.

He flayed the Central Government for its policies vis-à-vis China and Pakistan and said the government should give a clear message to its neighbours that it would not tolerate any mischief along the border.