'UPA can't contain price rise, will hold LS polls in October'

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani has predicted that elections to the Lok Sabha would be held in October 2008, saying the United Progressive Alliance government cannot contain the price rise issue any longer.

Advani, who was in Anekal in Karnataka as part of the election campaign for the Karnataka assembly elections, said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government was not able to handle the issue of inflation any longer. The Congress feels that the more they delay the elections, the more they will anger the voter, prompting elections in October.

Advani, making his first appearance in Karnataka since the elections were announced, said that the Karnataka elections will decide the future of the country. He said the mandate of the people of Karnataka will have a bearing on the Lok Sabha polls.

Advani however added that if the Congress loses in Karnataka, there is every chance of the Lok Sabha elections being postponed to early 2009. "We are ready to give the Congress at the Centre more time and we really do not mind if they rule a little longer. The longer they rule, the more the people will hate them," he said.

He further added that the BJP intends to fight the elections on the issues of inflation and terrorism. "The women of the country find it hard to run their houses. They are buying 'Chinese Dal'," he said. Advani said that a lady in New Delhi had come up with this term for sub-standard dal.

Advani also said that there has been a complete failure on part of the UPA government in controlling the menace of terrorism.

He called upon the people of Karnataka to punish the Janata Dal-Secular for betraying the BJP. "The people of Karnataka should give the BJP a chance to rule," he added.

Further, he mocked the Congress for not choosing a chief ministerial candidate. "We are sure that B S Yediyurappa will be our candidate for the post of CM. So why should the Congress have any doubts. There is so much cricket being played and can you imagine the game without a captain? When the Congress candidate asks you for votes, ask him who his captain is," Advani also added.