Advani dares PM

BJP leader L K Advani dared Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to come out with the names of those Indians having stacked money in Swiss banks and take steps to get that money back to India.

Addressing an election rally at Dharwad on Saturday, Advani said a study had revealed that Indians had deposited Rs 25 lakh crore in foreign banks. He quoted the report of Professor Vaidyanathan committee which conducted the study into the matter. The BJP leader quoting newspaper reports said the Swiss banks had revealed the names of 50 Indians who had deposited their money in the bank and the Indian government had concealed the information.

He said he had written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in April 2008 seeking details about Swiss Bank accounts held by Indians and the PM and FM had not bothered to reply. Advani said even after 62 years of Independence India was still facing challenges on economic, agriculture and security fronts.

The country saw development during six years of BJP led NDA’s rule and there was need to bring the NDA back to power. He described the Manmohan Singh government as most ineffective and said the UPA allies had realized that to get any work done they had to approach not the PM but Congress president Sonia Gandhi. “In a democracy prime minister is the supreme executive authority. But in UPA, it is not PM but the UPA chairperson who dictates the terms” he ridiculed. He criticised that the post of Prime Minister had been devalued under the UPA rule.

The BJP would work towards making India a ‘Surajya’ as dreamt by those who sacrificed their lives to make India free. By good governance, the party aims to make the 21 st century belong to India, he stated. Expressing his displeasure over low percentage of polling in the state during the first phase, he appealed to the voters to exercise their franchise without fail. He hailed the performance of BJP candidate Prahlad Joshi and said his election would strengthen his hands.