Country hurtling towards mid-term polls: Prakash Badal

Predicting early Lok Sabha polls, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday said the current political scenario was a possible outcome of the ongoing internal tussle and mistrust among key allies of Congress-led UPA government, which, according to him, is bound to crumble under its own weight.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the first national conclave of the principal secretaries (co-operation) of states here, Badal said due to the rift among the UPA allies on key issues the political situation of the country was grim due to which there was every possibility that the Lok Sabha elections would be held in advance. Due to the UPA government's instability at the Centre, governance at the national level has been adversely affected, thereby severely hitting the common man.

The chief minister said it was ironical that UPA government, which came into power claiming to be votary of common man (aam aadmi), had now completely ignored this crucial section of the society.

Replying to another query, Badal said the massive response given by the people for the countrywide bandh called by opposition parties reflected the simmering anger in the minds of countrymen against the misrule of the UPA government.

He said that recent hike in the price of diesel by the Centre coupled with the cap on the supply of the domestic LPG cylinders has broken the backbone of the common man adding that the decision of the UPA to allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail sector would ruin the small traders of the country.

Terming these decisions of the UPA as "anti-people, anti-farmers and anti-poor," Badal said that the countrymen are fed up with the incumbent Union government and they would show the door to them in the Lok Sabha polls.