Opposition Congress today mocked BJP over the visit of a Pakistani delegation to the Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad, believed to be a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the party leader Shakarsinh Vaghela saying that the saffron party has apparently diluted its stand against Pakistan.
"During the UPA regime, BJP used to allege that government is offering 'biryani' to the 26/11 accused Ajmal Kasab. When the Pakistani army chopped off head of our soldier during UPA rule, BJP announced that they will avenge such acts of Pakistan by chopping off 10 heads of Pakistani soldiers. "As BJP is ruling the nation now, attacks (ceasefire violation) from Pakistan have actually increased. This shows the double standards of BJP," Vaghela said in a release.
In a veiled reference to the erstwhile Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, Vaghela said, "When BJP-led NDA was in power, the then prime minister of Pakistan was invited here and his visit was followed by the Kargil war." He also slammed the state BJP government for "taking credit" of the Riverfront project, saying that the decision on the project was taken when Congress was ruling Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and BJP has only taken ahead this project. "Now, when Gujarat is facing water crisis, government should stop pouring water into Sabarmati just for publicity purpose. Water is very expensive and it is not meant for publicity," the opposition leader said. He alleged that the BJP government had hijacked two other initiatives of Congress.
"In the Assembly, the state government claimed that they provided electricity to 18,000 villages. This is not true, as electricity had already reached to these villages well before the BJP came to power," Vaghela said.
He said that the BJP had copied Congress' announcement to provide 'Ghar Nu Ghar' (House for All) ahead of 2012 Assembly elections and promised to provide 50 lakhs homes in a haste. "However, not a single house has been alloted yet," added Vaghela.
Earlier in the day, a four-member delegation from Pakistan visited the Sabarmati Riverfront (SR) project, to replicate it in Lahore on river Ravi.
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