Advani on recovering black money from Swiss banks

The Pioneer, April 1, 2009
Nimai Charan Sahu/Rakesh Joshi | Sambalpur/Bargarh/Nuapada

NDA prime ministerial candidate LK Advani on Tuesday said black money is crippling the economy of the country and there should be efforts to bring back the million crores of rupees deposited in Swiss banks by Indians. He was addressing an election campaign meeting of the BJP at Paikmal in Padmapur sub-division in Bargarh district.

“I have requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to raise this issue in the coming G-20 nations’ conference,” he said. Once recovered, this huge money could be invested in health, education, rural development, irrigation and all other developmental sectors, he added.

Surprisingly, unlike other BJP leaders, including Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley who visited Orissa recently, Advani did not utter a single word against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik or his BJD in his entire address. He only appealed to the people to vote for the BJP and the NDA both in the State and for the Centre for strong and stable Government.

However, BJP State president Suresh Pujari, BJP candidate from Bargarh Lok Sabha seat, Radharani Panda, Padmapur Assembly seat nominee Pradip Purohit and the party’s State secretary Aswini Sarangi, in their speeches, severely criticised Patnaik and the BJD. District party president Sauri Charan Barik presided over the meeting.

Advani strongly criticised the Congress and UPA Government at the Centre for the present crises everywhere. Price rise of all products including essential commodities severely affects poor people of the country in spite of the tall claim of the UPA Government on low rate of inflation, he said. He assured that if the NDA comes to power, Padmapur sub-division of Bargarh district would be included under the KBK programme for its socio-economic development.

Earlier, launching the election campaign in the State from Khariar in Nuapada district, Adavani said his Government would stress on providing good governance including transparent and progressive Government to the people.

Lauding the efforts of the Vajpayee Government, he said besides making the India an atomic power, the Government was putting stress on connecting the entire country with roads. “While I had laid the foundation stone of road from Gandhinagar to Silichar, I was not able to see the completed road in Silchar which incidentally comes in Assam from where Manmohan Singh has been elected. Development of agriculture and farmers will be the priority of the BJP which had given the farmers a Kisan credit card,” he said.

Though his speech centered mostly on national issues, he touched on local issues and said their demands of a railway line between Kantabanji and Jeypore through Nuapada Kalahandi and Nabrangpur would be fulfilled if the BJP is voted to power.