Cong govts made dead investments in aviation, hospitality: BJP

Charging the successive Congress governments with making "dead investments" in sectors like aviation and hospitality, BJP President Nitin Gadkari today said rural India has been deprived of infrastructure leaving to large-scale migration to urban areas.

"The first Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru preferred the Russian model after a lot of debate and the government invested heavily in sectors like aviation, power, hotels," Gadkari said here.

Dubbing it as "dead investment", he said the government preferred to spend Rs 60,000 crore in buying civil aircraft recently instead of investing in godowns, cold storages and green houses in rural India.

"Where private sector is already involved, what is the point in investing in aviation," he questioned.

He said entry of private players in aviation and telecommunication have brought down prices and helped the consumer.

Addressing a meeting of BJP's Kisan Morcha office-bearers here, Gadkari said while a few years ago, 90 per cent of the country's population was located in rural areas, the percentage has increased to nearly 50 per cent as villagers were migrating to big cities for want of work.

"The reason is wrong economic policies and bad governance," he said attacking the UPA government.

Batting for inter-linking of rivers, he said the problem of simultaneous floods and droughts in parts of the country could be solved.

The BJP President also suggested that irrigation should be shifted from the State List to the Concurrent List of the Constitution.

"This will help both states and the Centre in developing the irrigation facilities. It will increase agricultural produce and bring prosperity in rural India," he said.

Attacking the government's nuclear policy, he said while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was talking of nuclear power, the government should instead be investing in solar energy and other non-conventional means.

"Villages today face 16 hours of load-shedding. By using solar power and other alternative means of energy, villagers can get uninterrupted power," he said.