Singh, Advani trade verbal blows in Delhi

The national capital witnessed the war of words between prime minister Manmohan Singh and PM-in-waiting LK Advani over the weekend, with the prime ministerial candidates of the Congress and the BJP addressing rallies in different parts of Delhi.

Advani spoke in South Delhi’s Chhatarpur on Saturday, to garner support for BJP candidate Ramesh Bidhuri. On Sunday, Singh addressed a huge gathering in West Delhi’s Hari Nagar. Most Congress candidates from Delhi’s seven seats, except Kapil Sibal and JP Aggarwal, were present at the rally, but the choice of venue made it clear the pradhan mantri was throwing his weight behind Mahabal Mishra, the candidate from West Delhi — the constituency with the highest percentage of Sikh and Punjabi voters in Delhi.

While Advani refrained from making a personal attack on the PM, Singh wasn’t as kind, criticising him on several counts, including the BJP’s current favourite poll plank — getting black money back from Swiss banks.

“The BJP, especially Advaniji, has been alleging that the Congress-led UPA government made no effort to get back black money deposited in foreign banks. These allegations are completely baseless. I personally discussed the issue with leaders of G20 countries at the recent summit. Advaniji has also quoted a certain sum of money that he says has been siphoned off by Indians and deposited in these banks. No financial institute has the figures quoted by him; where did he get them from?” Singh said. 

While Congress president Sonia Gandhi, PM Singh and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi have been talking of the success of the UPA government’s flagship projects, such as NREGA, JNNURM and loan waiver schemes, at all their rallies, Advani said in his address that the UPA had no achievements in its five-year term to show for.

“Maine 1952 se ab tak ke saare chunav dekhe hain, par yeh pehli baar hai ki kisi sarkar ke paas chunav mein ginaane ke liye apni ek bhi uplabhdi nahi hai (I have seen all elections in this country since 1952, but this is the first time that I am witnessing a government that has no achievements to talk about),” Advani said.

Praising Narendra Modi’s “clean, well-performing” government in Gujarat, Advani said if his party came to power, it would ensure that Delhi was governed on the lines of “Modi’s Gujarat”, with its water and water problems solved. In contrast, Singh said Delhi had shown unprecedented progress under Sheila Dikshit’s government.

Advani criticised the UPA government for failing to tackle terrorism and took credit for making the country a nuclear power, but Singh tore into the BJP claim. “BJP kehti hai ki unki sarkar nirnayak aur mazboot hogi. Par unka record toh kuch aur hi batata hai (the BJP claims it will provide a strong, decisive government, but its record tells a different story),” Singh said.