Congress says there is every reason to celebrate UPAs four years in power

The Congress party, which heads the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the Centre, said on Thursday that the alliance had every right and reason to celebrate its four years in power, even as the opposition BJP and the Left, which offers outside support to the Manmohan Singh-led Government expressed dissatisfaction over this evenings celebrations.

New Delhi, May 22 : The Congress party, which heads the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the Centre, said on Thursday that the alliance had every right and reason to celebrate its four years in power, even as the opposition BJP and the Left, which offers outside support to the Manmohan Singh-led Government expressed dissatisfaction over this evening's celebrations.

All India Congress Committee Media Department Chairman M Veerappa Moily said, "We have every reason to celebrate and be jubilant. The UPA has had unparalleled achievements in working for the underprivileged and marginalised sections."

Moily was responding to a question on the Left parties saying that there was no reason to rejoice on account of rising prices and food shortage.

AICC General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said: "This is not celebration. We had made a commitment to the people that we will come out with a report card every year and that is what we are doing."

The Left had expressed dissatisfaction over UPA's failure to curb inflation and the agrarian crisis.

"In the context of rising prices and deepening misery of the people, I don't think they should celebrate," CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan said.

"There are some things which affect the people very much. Food security is one of them, rising prices is another, agrarian crisis is the third thing. These are the issues which it has not been able to tackle at all," Bardhan said while speaking to a television channel.

Leaders of the Left parties were to skip the release of the UPA report card, but will attend the dinner hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the occasion.

The BJP on Thursday ridiculed the UPA Government on completion of four years in office by bringing out a parallel "list of achievements" of the Congress-led coalition which included "betrayal" of the common man.

The party listed the "achievements" of the Government as "bartering" of national security for votes, "imperiling" food and economic security, "devaluing" the office of the Prime Minister and other institutions and "sanctifying" corruption.

"The stark truth about four years of the government is its failure on all fronts, compounded by its betrayal of the common man in whose name the Congress had sought votes," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

The BJP came out with its parallel "list of achievements" of the Government on a day the UPA celebrated completion of four years in office with the Prime Minister hosting a dinner to coalition partners and Left allies.

In a sarcastic remark, Prasad said while ministers and leaders of the UPA attend the grand dinner, crores of ordinary Indians will be eating less than their normal meagre intake because skyrocketing prices have eaten into their per capita food consumption.

"The UPA Government's failure to check spiralling inflation, which is robbing the paltry earnings of the common man, has imperiled their economic and food security," he said, while noting that apart from the poor, price rise has also hit the urban middle class.

The "list of achievements" came a day after the party identified stifling inflation, rise in terror attacks, collapse of agricultural sector and brakes on infrastructure development as the legacy of four years of UPA "misrule".

ANI