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New government will tackle unemployment: BJP

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 14. The Bharatiya Janata Party today rejected the Congress party's charge that the Vajpayee Government had not delivered on its promise to provide one crore new jobs a year during its tenure from 1999 to 2004. Admitting that it was an urgent problem, the party said tackling unemployment would be the "top priority'' of a new National Democratic Alliance government.

The party spokesperson and general secretary, M. A. Naqvi, demanded an apology from the Congress for what it described as its "mis-propaganda'' on the unemployment issue. "We inherited this from the Congress; how could they talk about it when they created it,'' Mr. Naqvi asked. He said the BJP was "now committed to ending `berozgari' (unemployment) ... tackling unemployment will be the top priority of our new government.''

Reeling out figures, he said 33 lakh people were employed in the 11 lakh new public call offices; 39 lakhs were employed in 18 lakh new self-help groups; 5 lakh people were employed on the national highway project; the food-for-work programme generated 100-crore man days of employment; over 10 lakh jobs were created in the information technology sector; and 1 crore jobs were created due to increased sales of cars and trucks.

When asked on the Lucknow tragedy and its fallout, Mr. Naqvi said no decision had been taken to sideline Lalji Tandon, senior BJP leader in Uttar Pradesh, whose birthday celebrations led to a stampede in which 21 women were killed while free saris were being distributed. Mr. Naqvi denied that there was a move to replace Mr. Tandon with the Rajya Sabha member, S. S. Ahluwalia, as the Prime Minister's chief points man in his Lucknow constituency. Mr. Naqvi reacted to the Congress party's "list'' of eminent Indians born elsewhere in which Mother Teresa had figured. "The Congress has lost its mental balance. There can be no comparison between Mother Teresa and the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi,'' he said.

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