Thaindian News

Lucknow, Jan 16 (IANS) The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has become the “second name of a conspiracy against the common man” owing to its wrong policies, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley said here Sunday.”If one takes into account the half-hearted attempts made by the Congress-led central government for containing inflation and combating corruption, one will notice the government has become the second name of conspiracy against ‘aam admi’,” Jaitley said.

He was addressing a gathering at a function organised by the party to welcome the national unity march (Rashtriya Ekta Yatra) that arrived in Uttar Pradesh’s capital in the evening.

Under the march, the BJP plans to hoist the national flag in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir Jan 26. The march started in Kolkata and would pass through various states before reaching the Valley.

“The UPA government merely projects it is interested to safeguard the interest of the common man. In a stark contrast of its claims, it continues to hike petrol prices and ignore issues related to the common man,” he said.

“Within 30 days, the central government has hiked petrol prices twice…the government has also failed to regulate prices of food items,” he said.

Referring to the situation in the Kashmir Valley, he said: “There’s a sense of fear and insecurity, owing to which people hesitate in making any investment, which in turn is adversely affecting the economy of Kashmir.”

“Unlike the BJP-ruled state Gujarat that has been creating jobs and inviting investment, efforts are required to generate jobs in Kashmir that has become a concern for the youths there,” he said.

Jaitley accused Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of not taking any significant steps for development.

He targeted Abdullah for voicing objections against the party’s national unity march to Srinagar’s Lal Chowk and tricolour hoisting on Republic Day.

“Political outfits may be against us…But the citizens of the country have full faith in us…We may be politically isolated, but we are fortunate to have the public support. We will definitely hoist the tricolour at the Lal Chowk,” said Jaitley.