Shimla: To relegate burning issues confronting the common man, congress by targeting individuals was trying to personalize the election campaign, BJP state here on Sunday. “We will not let them bury the issues of price rise, unemployment and terrorism,†said Ashok Kapahtia, party spokesman.
Kapahtia, who president Jai Ram Thakur has appointed as state party spokesman said, “Government data of inflation having come down to 0.18 % does not reflect when a housewife goes out to buy groceries and prices of pulses, food grains, edible oils and sugar are only rising.”
The country’s food economy has been totally mismanaged by the UPA government and the per capita consumption of food has come down, he claimed.
Pointing out shortcomings in NREGA, the rural employment scheme, Kaphatia said the scheme was extended to the whole country despite it having become apparent that not many people were benefitting from the scheme.
“Government data itself showed that about 3.8 crore families had enrolled under the scheme and only about 13 percent of them were provided 100 days employment,†he said.
Responding to congress spokesman Anand Sharma’s remark about ‘BJP dishing out mind boggling figures of cash stashed away in Swiss Bank like tax havens’ as ‘noise and sensation’  he said that India need not be a silent spectator on the G-20 platform and should make serious efforts to track down those who have violated the money laundering laws.
Pointing out that corruption was not an issue for congress and was in denial mode about black money in Swiss Banks. “Whom are they trying to protect,†he questioned.
Kaphatia said that Germany and US had succeeded in breaking up the Swiss Bank secrecy system and should BJP come to power, efforts would be made to bring back all the black money parked in tax haven economies.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads the team of media professionals at Hill Post.
In a career spanning over two decades through all formats of journalism in Electronic, Print and Online Media, he brings with him enough experience to steer this platform. He lives in Shimla.
