BJP to hold nationwide agitation against UPA government

PANAJI: Alleging that the UPA rule has done "maximum damage" to the country, BJP today said it would hold a nationwide 'jail bharo' agitation from June 17 against the government for its "failure" on all fronts including checking corruption and price rise.

Announcing the decision at a press conference here, BJP spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain said, "BJP will launch a jail bharo andolan from June 17 to June 22."

The agitation was planned on May 27 to June 2 but was postponed in the wake of the Naxal attack in Chattisgarh on May 25.

Speaking about the decision at the party's National Executive meeting, Hussain said the agitation is being organised against price rise and corruption under the UPA rule.

Attacking the UPA, he said Government is divided between the Prime Minister's Office and 10 Janpath (Residence of Sonia Gandhi) and it has cost the nation dearly.

"Four years of UPA rule will be a blackmark on the chapters of Indian History. It has afflicted maximum damage to the country. Economy is in a bad shape. This government is a failure. Congress has no right to celebrate its four years of rule. It should apologise to the people for misrule," Hussain told reporters.

"There are two power centres in the government. Manmohan Singh's Cabinet and Sonia Gandhi's Cabinet. The country cannot tolerate this. Language of democracy is being destroyed because of the power struggle. ...We want relief from Congress misrule. Government is too weak to take decisions," he said.

The BJP is the only "ray of hope" in the prevailing "darkness" in the country, he said.