Country heading towards mid-term polls: Punjab CM Prakash Singh Badal

CHANDIGARH: Predicting early Lok Sabha polls, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said the current political scenario was a possible outcome of the ongoing internal tussle and mistrust among key allies of Congress-led UPA government, which was bound to crumble under its own weight.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the first national conclave of the Principal Secretaries (Co-operation) of states here, Badal said due to the rift among the UPA allies on key issues the political situation of the country was grim due to which there was every possibility that the Lok Sabha elections would be held in advance.

He said that due to the instability of the UPA government at the Centre the governance at the national level had been adversely affected thereby severely hitting the common man.

The chief minister said it was ironical that UPA government which came into power claiming to be votary of common man (Aam aadmi) had now completely ignored this crucial section of the society.

Replying to another query, the Chief Minister said that the massive response given by the people for the countrywide bandh called by opposition parties reflected the simmering anger in the minds of countrymen against the misrule of the UPA government.

He said that recent hike in the price of diesel by the Centre coupled with the cap on the supply of the domestic LPG cylinders has broken the backbone of the common man adding that the decision of the UPA to allow Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI) in retail sector would ruin the small traders of the country.

Terming these decisions of the UPA as "anti-people, anti-farmers and anti-poor," Badal said that the countrymen are fed up with the incumbent Union government and they would show the door to them in the Lok Sabha polls.