Bhopal:
BJP president Nitin Gadkari today said the Congress-led UPA government was worse than "dacoits of Madhya Pradesh".
"The dacoits of Madhya Pradesh were better than the Congress-led government at the Centre...a Rs 4.38 lakh crore scam was unheard of before," Mr Gadkari said.
He was addressing the 'Yuva Sankalp' bike rally organised by the youth wing of the BJP to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand.
"The list of scams (which took place during the UPA regime) is long...Rs 76,000 crore CWG scam, Rs 1.86 lakh crore coal scam and 1.76 lakh crore 2G scam. Had anyone heard of such figures of scams before?" Mr Gadkari said.
"These are the figures not given by any BJP leader, but the Comptroller and Auditor General. Congress has no concern for the people of the country," he said.
The BJP president also said that inflation was soaring because of rampant corruption in the country.
Mr Gadkari also said that the country's dependence on crude oil imports should decrease, and said that people should embrace alternatives such as ethanol-mixed petrol, that is used in Brazil.
"Instead of emptying alcohol bottles in your stomach, it would be better if you pour them into the fuel tank of your vehicle to reduce dependence on import of crude," the BJP chief jokingly said.
The 21st century belonged to India, but the people must put "knowledgeable leaders" at the helm of affairs, he said. He praised the Madhya Pradesh government for its schemes such as Ladli Laxmi and Teerth-Darshan, as also for the 18 per cent growth registered in the agriculture sector.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that his government was committed to providing round-the-clock power to all villages by 2013, and urged the youth in the state to capitalise on it by setting up village-based industries.