Bhubaneswar, Jan 18 (IANS) The Congress party was never serious about the problems of the poor and peasants in the country, Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari said here Monday.
After ruling the country for the most number of years since independence, it was the Congress leaders and workers who became richer, not the poor common man, he alleged.
Addressing a rally of nearly two lakh people in Bhubaneswar, Gadkari said more than ten lakh farmers have committed suicide in the past due to the Congress-led government's poor economic policy.
The rally was a part of the nationwide campaign against corruption that the BJP launched in Delhi earlier this month.
Blaming the United Progressive Alliance government for the increasing plight of the poor and the farmers, he said: "The government has Rs.70,000 crore to buy aeroplanes, but has no money to prevent farmers' suicide".
Referring to various scams during the UPA rule, including the those involving 2G spectrum, Commonwealth Games and Adarsh housing society, Gadkari said the year 1947 was known for India's independence, but 2010 will be known for scams.
Describing the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance as the only alternative at the centre, he highlighted various achievements of the former prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee's government.
Gadkari also criticized the Naveen Patnaik-headed Biju Janata Dal government in the state for its dubious role in the acquisition of land for a Vedanta project and mining scams.
"'Tum Delhi looto, Hum Orissa lootenge' (You loot Delhi, we will loot Orissa), is the only slogan of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik," he sarcastically said about the UPA-led central and the BJD government in the state.
The BJD and the BJP jointly fought the Lok Sabha polls in 1998, 1999 and 2004 and the assembly elections of 2000 and 2004.
However the BJP suffered a heavy loss in the 2009 general election after break up of its 11-year-old alliance with the BJD in the runup to the poll.
Of Orissa's 21 parliamentary seats, the BJD had won 11 and the BJP seven in the 2004 general election. In 2009, the BJP's number from the state reduced to zero whereas BJD increased its tally to 14.