BJP national president Amit Shah today flagged-off the party's Parivartan Yatra in poll-bound Uttarakhand and appealed to people to overthrow the "corrupt" Congress regime in the state and install a development- oriented BJP government that could fulfill their aspirations.
"In the last five years of Congress-rule the state has only seen unprecedented patronage to mining, land and liquor mafia," he said, before flagging off two buses converted to chariots from a school ground here for the 'yatra' in Kumaon and Garhwal.
The Chief Minister Harish Rawat-led government has "frittered away" the mandate of the people by "indulging in corruption and doing nothing" for the state's development, he said.
"Only a development-oriented government can give unparalleled boost to tourism which is the mainstay of the state's economy," he said in the run-up to next year's Assembly polls there.
Terming Uttarakhand a unique state endowed with rare natural beauty and potential for tourism with centuries-old centres of faith like Badrinath and Kedarnath, he said, "This potential can be realised only when an action-oriented BJP government is installed."
Comparing the present government to a burnt out transformer that is unable to light up people's homes, Shah said, it was time to replace it with a BJP government that could bring to them benefits through central schemes.
Blaming the state government for failing to bring around a dozen central schemes, he urged people to dislodge the "corrupt" Congress dispensation in Uttarakhand.
"The state government has eaten-up all the funds sent to it by the Centre over the past two-and-a-half years. Between Rs 60,000 and Rs 65,000 crore additional funds were released for Uttarakhand," the BJP national president claimed.
"Despite this there is no investment visible on the ground, because all those funds have been sacrificed at the altar of corruption," he alleged.
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Giving credit to the BJP for the creation of Uttarakhand, Shah said it was the only party which had consistently supported the cause of statehood for the region.
"We supported the cause of statehood for Uttarakhand all along. The man who is presently Chief Minister of the state was in favour of just a union territory status," he alleged.
"The Rampur Tiraha episode which saw atrocities committed against statehood agitators took place under the Samajwadi Party rule which had Congress support," he said.
This state was created by (former prime minister) Atalji and will be developed to its full potential by (Prime Minister) Modiji, Shah said.
Mocking Rahul Gandhi's aggressive stand on one-rank-one-pension (OROP), the BJP president said, "He (Rahul) has no moral right to say anything on the issue because the Congress during its 60 years had done nothing to address the issue."
Modiji has achieved something which successive Congress governments have failed to achieve in 60 years, he claimed.
"OROP was there during your grandmother's tenure and then during your father's tenure. It was Modiji who deposited Rs 5,500 crore in the accounts of soldiers. So, Rahulji you have no right to talk about OROP," he said.
