Hours before the Gujarat Assembly elections were announced Wednesday,Congress president Sonia Gandhi virtually launched her partys poll campaign by attacking the record of Chief Minister Narendra Modis BJP government and claiming credit for some mega projects in the state. Gandhi,however,avoided directly targeting Modi,who has over the past few days sought to pin her over the cost of her foreign visits. Promising to build a new Gujarat during her 20-minute speech at a farmers meet,Gandhi said the Gujarat government had failed to bring Narmada waters through the Narmada Yojana,a Congress project,to parched Saurashtra where farmers have committed suicide this year. The Narmada project is a Congress project,which is why it is named Sardar Sarovar project, Gandhi told the gathering of an estimated one lakh people who had converged on the Race Course ground. But I want to ask this government why Narmada waters have not reached Saurashtra in the last 10 years when the project was built for the farmers. Without naming Modi in this connection,Gandhi said it is the habit of some to take credit for everything. Modi had only last week announced that the Sardar Sarovar Yojana would be expanded through a sub-project called Sauni that aims to bring Narmada waters to all 115 dams in Saurashtra. Gandhi said she was aware of the water and fodder crisis and the crop failure in the predominantly farming region of Rajkot and would ask the state government to conduct a survey for the Centre to be able to approve a crop insurance scheme. Gandhi also hit out at the BJP for what she said was the difference in the national opposition partys walk and talk over corruption. She said that while the Congress had enacted the Right To Information Act to curb graft,the BJP had not allowed the Lokpal Bill to be passed in the Rajya Sabha. They do not allow Parliament to function. Are they against corruption or are they against the constitution and democracy? she asked as she went on to criticise the Gujarat government for not appointing a Lokayukta. Referring to the confrontation between the government and the opposition parties over the governments decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail,Gandhi said the move would benefit farmers. Modi has attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the decision. Dont you want farmers and consumers both to get fair prices for products? Gandhi asked. That is why we have brought FDI. Besides,it is up to the state governments to decide whether to implement it or not. Then why is such a hue and cry being made and people being misled? Gandhi sought to explain the rationale behind the UPA governments move to raise diesel prices and limit the number of subsidised LPG cylinders. She questioned the state government for not reducing the value added tax on LPG in the state and said it was highest in Gujarat. She also asked why Gujarat was not offering three extra subsidised cylinders as congress-ruled states had announced they would. I want to ask why the state government is not bringing down VAT. VAT is highest in Gujarat, she said and added the state government was not playing its part in curbing inflation. Gandhi also accused the BJP of not making it public that the UPA had released 50 per cent more funds than the NDA for the development of Gujarat. She claimed that it was the Congress that had brought petrochemical and textiles projects to the state.
