Gadkari hits out at Congress, NCP

He said UPA allies have tried to give a communal colour to the force-feeding incident and "malign" the NDA's image.

He said the two parties were responsible for rising inequality, starvation deaths and unemployment in the country.

Union Minister and BJP leader Nitin Gadkari has accused the Congress and NCP of using the Maharashtra Sadan episode involving a Shiv Sena MP to “malign” the image of the saffron combine.

He said the two UPA allies have tried to give communal colour to the incident in Maharashtra Sadan, where Sena MP Rajan Vichare was caught on video purportedly force-feeding a fasting Muslim employee, apparently to protest poor quality services and food at the State Government’s guest house in New Delhi.

The incident rocked Parliament, where the UPA constituents demanded action against the Sena MP.

Congress and NCP have always used communalism and reservation for vote-bank politics and to “malign” the image of both BJP and Shiv Sena, he said.

Mr. Gadkari was addressing BJP activists at a function in Nashik last evening.

Lashing out at the Congress and NCP, who were part of the UPA Government at the Centre, he said the two parties were responsible for rising inequality, starvation deaths and unemployment in the country.

He said the BJP-led NDA Government was not against the farmers and maintained the Centre’s proposed move to ban export of onion was a temporary step to control prices.

Earlier, the Surface Transport and Shipping Minister inaugurated a two-day seminar organised by the city branch of Builders Association of India.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Gadkari said the Government was thinking of undertaking cement concretisation of National Highways to increase their durability.