Controlling prices immediate concern: Rajnath

BJP chief Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said controlling inflation would be the first priority of a future NDA government and declared that a government led by his party would also bring black money stashed away in foreign banks within a year of coming to power.

BJP chief Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said controlling inflation would be the first priority of a future NDA government and declared that a government led by his party would also bring black money stashed away in foreign banks within a year of coming to power.

On a whirlwind tour of Karnataka, Singh hit out at chief minister Siddaramaiah for calling Gujarat CM and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi a 'mass murderer' and said, "He should apologise for this. Otherwise, I hope the Election Commission will take note of his statement and take strict action against him." Singh claimed Modi was the "most popular leader" of the country.

Describing 2002 riots as "unfortunate", Singh said similar incidents have also happened under Congress governments in Karnataka, Gujarat and other states but the BJP never used such nomenclature for a Congress leader. He sought to turn tables on the Congress saying many leaders of that party were oblivious to the fact that even Sonia Gandhi praised the Modi government in 2008 for its developmental works.

His blistering attack on the Congress started at an election rally in the mining town of Bellary, where he called the Congress and inflation synonymous to each other.

"Congress has been in power for 55 out of 67 years of Independence. Every time they come to power, there has been unprecedented price rise. We will not allow prices to rise under a Modi-led government. We have a clear road map for this," Singh said at a rally.

He listed out BJP's promises about setting up a price stabilization fund, bridging the demand and supply gap and a change in FCI's procurement policy to contain inflation.

Flanked by former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and Bellary stalwart B Sriramulu - who have returned to the BJP recently - Singh hope that BJP will repeat its 2009 performance in the southern state, which had sent maximum number of MPs in the current Lok Sabha.

In a separate meeting at Tumkur, about 350 km away from Bellary, Singh raked the issue of black money saying "some influential people" have deposited black money, which belonged to the ordinary citizens of the country, and assured that this illicit wealth will be brought back within one year of NDA coming to power.

"We will use this money for eradicating poverty and addressing the issue of unemployment," Singh declared.