BJP WILL come to power soon: Gadkari

Training his guns at the ruling United Progressive Alliance at the Centre, Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said the Congress was going through a "bad time" and his party-led alliance will capture power in the next Lok Sabha elections.

The country was suffering due to rising prices, growing unemployment, declining exports, corruption and poverty, Gadkari said.

"If anyone has created this situation, it is the Congress-led UPA," he said.

"The wrong economic policies and corruption are making people's life miserable. But don't worry. The Congress' bad time has started. BJP will come to power at the Centre," he said in his inaugural address at the state BJP unit's two-day conference 'Tamarai Sangamam in Madurai.

The BJP was working for a powerful, prosperous, terrorism-free India. The people were fed up with the "price situation, corruption and family rule" in UPA, he said.

The Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance government had envisaged a 12 per cent growth rate and ensured 9 per cent but this has decreased to 5.5 per cent under UPA rule, he said.

The BJP chief also flayed the Congress and its southern ally DMK for failing to prevent "killings" of Tamils in Sri Lanka during the ethnic strife and "attacks" on fishermen from Tamil Nadu.

Gadkari said he had told Colombo that addressing these issues was of primary importance to ensure cordial ties between the two countries.

The BJP supremo said he had conveyed the message to the Sri Lankan foreign minister when he spoke to him prior to the visit of party colleague Sushma Swaraj and other Members of Parliament to assess the rehabilitation measures for displaced Tamils.

Taking an apparent dig at the Congress, he said, the BJP was not a "mother-son or father-son party", and that anyone can rise through the ranks to reach the top. Citing his own example, he said he had risen from being a grassroot worker to being party chief.

Accusing the Congress of trying to conspire to distance the BJP from minorities, especially Muslims, by branding it as communal and anti-Muslim, Gadkari said the party was beyond any such divisions and recalled the candidature of APJ Abdul Kalam being proposed for Presidential polls earlier.

Lauding the governance initiatives of states ruled by BJP and its allies, he said states like Gujarat, Karnataka, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh were doing well on various fronts  including power, water and crop insurance.

"Most of the awards by the Centre for governance are bagged by BJP or states ruled by its allies," he said.