The BJP leader L.K. Advani today ruled out any possibility of post poll alliance between the BJP and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). On the contrary, he slammed the BJD saying, the latter has betrayed the people of Orissa by snapping the decade-long alliance with the saffron party.
Addressing media persons here at the BJP party office, he said, “The decade-long alliance between the BJP and the BJD in Orissa was the most stable anti-Congress alliance in the history of the state. The BJD could rule Orissa for a decade only because it forged an alliance with the BJP as earlier experiments of launching regional outfits were disastrous and short-lived”.
“The BJP-BJD alliance helped in liberating the state from the corrupt and anti-people rule of the Congress. We did not want to break the alliance but the BJD betrayed us by taking a hasty and unilateral decision. The BJD’s miscalculation and misadventure arising out of its exaggerated sense of strength will cost the party dearly in the ensuing Assembly elections”, he added.
He pointed out that the BJD’s decision to join hands with some constituents of the so-called Third Front would neither serve the interests of the state nor the nation.
Advani appealed to the voters in Orissa to cast their vote in such a way that they can show their disapproval to the BJD and also shatter the Congress party’s dreams in the Centre and in Orissa.
He stated that the BJP would take the upcoming Assembly elections in Orissa as a challenge and would endeavour to convert this challenge into an opportunity.
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Comparing the NDA and the UPA, Advani, the Prime Ministerial candidate of the NDA said, “In the run-up to the 15th Lok Sabha elections, the electorates can clearly see the contrast between BJP led NDA and Congress led UPA. UPA has disintegrated to a point where it ceases to exist as a pre-poll alliance. Among the allies that have severed ties with the Congress include TRS in Andhra Pradesh, PMK and MDMK in Tamil Nadu, RJD and LJP in Bihar as well as Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.”
However, the NDA has gained three new allies in the past three months which include Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in Assam, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in Haryana and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in Uttar Pradesh, he said.
Accusing the Congress led UPA government of being soft on terror; Advani said a government which has made the country insecure deserves to be voted out of power.
Taking a dig at the UPA government’s proposal of an India-Pakistan joint mechanism to fight terrorism, Advani said, “The Prime Minister’s recent statement reiterating his earlier stand of fighting a joint war on terrorism shows that the UPA government’s policy is deeply flawed. The fact that Pakistan itself has been the victim of homegrown terror incidents cannot be an argument in favour of the India-Pakistan joint mechanism to fight terrorism”.
Advani who also addressed a large public gathering at Kishorenagar of Athmallick assembly constituency of Orissa said the BJP had stood the test of time in situations like severing of ties by its alliance partner and the party was capable of turning an adversity into an opportunity.