Dharamsala, March 20
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today accused the BJP of stalling six anti-graft Bills introduced in Parliament by the UPA government. He said the BJP opposed the Bills because it feared if these were passed, the Congress would get credit for that and would be voted to power again.

Addressing a rally at Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, Rahul said Sardar Patel was of the opinion that the RSS was a “poisonous organisation that can destroy the country”. It was ironic that Narendra Modi, who remained associated with the RSS for his entire life, was now talking of a statue of Sardar Patel, he said.

He alleged the BJP opposed computerisation and introduction of mobile phones in the country during the tenure of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

When Rajiv Gandhi proposed to introduce computers and mobile phones in the country, two senior most BJP leaders (indicating towards former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani) opposed it saying this would create unemployment in the country. However, BJP leaders were now claiming that mobile phones and computers were introduced in the country by them, he said.

He said "one rank, one pension" issue had been hanging fire for over 25 years. "I took it up with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the scheme has been now implemented," he said.

It was the Congress that gave statehood to Himachal Pradesh despite strong opposition, he claimed.

He said about 15 crore people in the country had moved above the poverty line due to the policies of the UPA government. Besides allowing a loan waiver of around Rs 70,000 crore to the farmers, the UPA government also passed several important legislations, including the RTI Act, the Right to Food and the Land Acquisition Bill.

He said the present UPA government okayed several development projects for Himachal Pradesh.