In city, Advani lists Cong drawbacks

Listing out the drawbacks of the Congress rule, Advani said the present government has created records in mismanagement. 8220;I am only not referring to inflation. Thousands of farmers have committed suicide. Loan waiver has not had any impact on a majority of the farmers since they do not take loans from banks, but from moneylenders. Household budgets have gone awry. Interest rates have gone up too high,8221; he said.

8220;It is not the first time that oil prices have risen. They rose when BJP was in power, but we never let it affect the common man. We faced the worst crisis in the form of Kargil, Gujrat earthquake, Orissa cyclone, sanctions due to Pokhran among others. The Congress has also been ineffective in curbing terrorism,8221; he said.

8220;Chandigarh was a much talked about town when it was created. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the Vidhan Sabha. However, if proper care is not taken, no one knows what will happen. I hope that the people of the city will create a record as far as the voting percentage is concerned,8221; he said.

Former MP Satya Pal Jain talked about the problems being faced by the residents. 8220;The law and order situation has deteriorated. Women do not feel safe while moving out of their houses due to incidents of chain and purse snatching. However, when a proposal for sanctioning more posts for constables was sent to the Centre, it was rejected. Hundreds of houses have been demolished during the Congress rule. Land is being acquired at Rs 7.5 lakh per acre while farmers in Punjab are being paid around Rs 2 crore per acre. A large number of liquor vends have come up. The NREGS has not been implemented,8221; he said.

He added: 8220;The Panjab University has not been given a single extra penny in the past few years. Private schoolteachers and medical representatives have been struggling to get their demands fulfilled. SC certificates are not being issued.8221;

Referring to the tussle between local Congress MP Pawan Kumar Bansal and UT Administrator Gen S F Rodrigues Retd, he said though they represent the same establishment, yet continue speaking against each other. He assured that the BJP government, when elected, would not be helpless as the Congress.

President of the city unit of the BJP, Kamla Sharma welcomed Advani, while senior leader Yash Pal Mahajan gave the vote of thanks. The other members present on the occasion included Manoranjan Kalia, Balbir Punj, Kiran Ghai, Balram Dass Tandon and Rajinder Bhandari.