Congress not serious

Former BJP president Rajnath Singh lashed out at Congress, charging that the party was not at all interested in bringing the guilty persons in multi-crore Commonwealth Games (CWG) scam to fore. Singh was in the city to meet family of Shaktikumar Sancheti who had passed away recently. He later visited the headquarters of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and held closed door talks with office-bearers.

" Congress has no intention of punishing the scamsters. It is the party tradition to cover up scams. They are not bothered the scam is tarnishing the image of India. BJP will build up pressure on the government to take action. We will not allow the guilty to go scot free," said the ex-BJP chief.

Commenting on terrorism in Kashmir, Rajnath said Indian intelligence agencies had evidence about ISI's involvement in terrorist activities there. However, it was a massive diplomatic failure of the Union government that it had not been able to get ISI declared as a terrorist organization. Kashmir had flared up due to Congress' votebank politics, he charged adding that terrorists stirred up trouble in the valley to prevent this year's Amarnath yatra.

Asked about BJP units in Maharashtra and Karnataka singing different tunes on the Belgaum, Singh said it was natural that people would take side of their respective state. "However, the government should act as a neutral agency and solve the issue amicably on a priority basis," he said.

On Vidarbha, Rajnath said BJP had made its stand clear long ago and it was up to Congress to do the same.

Singh was full of praise for his successor Nitin Gadkari. "Under his leadership the party is functioning better than it did under me. We cornered the government on price rise in Parliament along with Left parties. This is the first time BJP got the support of the Communist parties. The July 5 bandh was excellent," he said.