BJP to Prez: Early polls only way out

New Delhi: The BJP top-brass, led by party patriarch L K Advani, petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee to advise the Government to go for early polls by the end of this year, which is the only way out of the present economic gloom enveloping the country. It said that the prevailing uncertainty in the country should be put to end, by advising the Government to seek a fresh mandate at the earliest and not later than the State elections due in the next three months. The elections to the states of Rajasthan, Assam, Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are slated for October-November, 2013.

In a memorandum submitted to the President, the BJP stated that the country can’t “ill-afford” the continuance of a government that is “paralyzed,” and a “Prime Minister, who never speaks.” It accused the UPA government for unable to take any decision; provide any leadership, or a ray of hope for the future. The government, which is mired in humongous corruption. Even the Supreme Court now suspects that it is trying to destroy evidence by making the incriminating files go missing.

Highlighting the differences within the government, the BJP leaders told the President of India that the government was not even sparing him as he was too being blamed for the failing economy when he was the Finance Minister. The memorandum stated that the government cannot be allowed to continue, whose Finance Minister “wrongly blames his immediate predecessor, who is unable to defend himself, a supreme leader who does not care about where the money will come from and a bureaucracy which is frozen and unable to act.”

Blaming the Ministers for working at cross-purposes, the BJP leaders complained to the President of India that the relationship of the Government of India with the State Governments, especially the non-UPA-ruled States and with the Opposition parties was at its nadir.

Led by BJP Parliamentary Party Chairman L K Advani, the BJP delegation comprised of BJP President Rajnath Singh, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition ni Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, former Finance Ministers Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha, former BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu, BJP General Secretary Ananth Kumar and Rajya Sabha BJP deputy leader Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The BJP leaders detailed to the President the free fall of the Indian rupee against the US dollar that was symptomatic of the fundamentals of the economy being ruined because of the reckless policies of the government. The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act was thrown out of the window in 2008-09. The fiscal deficit of the government was allowed to rise exponentially in that year by the then Finance Minister, who also happens to be the Finance Minister today, from 2.5 per cent of the GDP in 2007-08 to 6 per cent of the GDP and the revenue deficit from 1.1 per cent to 4.5 per cent.

This splurge in expenditure in 2008-09, most of which was consumption expenditure and not investment expenditure, was wholly responsible for the present crisis, they pointed out. Fiscal deficit and revenue deficit have stayed at unsustainable levels, year after year since then. The utter carelessness displayed on the external front has led to a burgeoning current account deficit.

Pointing out that experts predict that the growth rate in the current year may be below 4 per cent, the BJP said retail inflation has been in double-digit for the last four years. Interest rates have increased to unacceptable levels leading to a singular decline in investment. This has affected production adversely as a result of which growth rate in 2012-13 has declined to 5 per cent.