Gadkari targets Sonia again

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today accused the Congress of looting the country and stuck to its allegation of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi having close proximity with party president Sonia Gandhi.

“The Congress has indulged in 2G spectrum and CWG scams which amounts to Rs2.5 lakh crore. The party which has ruled the country for 56 years, despite having given the garibi hatao slogan, has been unable to remove poverty. The party should answer,” said BJP president, Nitin Gadkari.

He flagged off the party's Srinagar-bound ‘Rastriya Ekta Yatra’ here. Gadkari alleged that Quattrochi, the key accused in the Bofors gun deal, had free access to Sonia Gandhi's residence. He also demanded that the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president should come clean on the issue.

Accusing the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) of having failed to deliver, Gadkari said 50 per cent of the country's population earned only Rs20 per day after 63 years of independence and were buying onions at Rs80 a kg with inflation at over 18 per cent.

The BJP president also alleged that Congress was indulging in vote bank politics and encouraging infiltration from Bangladesh.

‘Rastriya Ekta Yatra’ from Kolkata to Kashmir has been organised by Bharatiya Janata Yuba Morcha (BJYM), BJP's youth wing.

BJYM president Anurag Thakur, BJP Mahila Morcha president Smriti Irani and state BJP chief Rahul Sinha were present during the flag-off.

Gadkari said that Rashtriya Ekta Yatra from Kolkata to Lalchak in Srinagar would reach on January 26 where the national flag would be hoisted as mark of unity and integrity despite opposition from the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and others.