BJP govt ushered in "anti-climax" : Azad

Lashing out at the BJP government in Karnataka for ushering in the "anti-climax" for the state, Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today said that in comparison the Congress government led by S M Krishna, had taken the state to a position of "climax" in terms of development.
"During 1999-2004 when there was a Congress government headed by S M Krishna, the focus of the globe was on Karnataka, the type of environment the Congress government created by having policies in place, industrial policies, by providing power, employment, law and order in place and corruption under control, the state attracted the attention of the entire world", Azad said.

He said most of the heads of the state, Prime Ministers of countries skipped Delhi and visited Bangalore first. "Delhi became the second priority, political agenda was on the backfront, infrastructure and atmosphere created by Karnataka was in the forefront", he told reporters here.
The BJP government should have continued the "progress which Krishna took to a climax. But unfortunately anti-climax started when BJP came to power. The focus was not on IT, development, it was on mines, allotment", Azad said.
Azad said there has to be a single party government in Karnataka and it is the Congress which can provide stability.

To a question on why a senior and efficient leader like Krishna was "unceremoniously pulled from the Centre and relegated to the state", Azad quipped "sometimes senior leaders have to be shifted from the Centre to help the state.... He is still at the forefront and moving ahead as much he can in keeping with his age".
Krishna was still performing his duties "faithfully and sincerely as can be done at his age", he added.