Cong-led UPA govt had three power centres: Amit Shah

Congress-led UPA government had three power centres-- the then prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi, which created confusion and policy paralysis, BJP president Amit Shah said while launching a tirade against the previous regime.

"There was a situation of policy paralysis (in the country). Not a single decision was taken. It was not known actually from where the government was running...whether it was running from Soniaji's house or from prime minister's house or from Rahul Baba's house," Shah said while addressing a rally of BJP workers in the city.

Shah's offensive came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi implied in an interview to PTI that Sonia had been an "unconstitutional" authority exercising "real" power over the PMO during the UPA rule. Escalating his attack on ex-PM Manmohan Singh, Shah said, "There were three power centres then and no decisions were taken.

In the previous government, every minister had become prime minister of his own ministry and nobody was ready to treat the poor prime minister (Manmohan Singh) as the prime minister of the country." Listing out achievements of the BJP-led NDA government in last one year, Shah said every minister now works independently.

"We have also restored the dignity of the Prime Minister's post," he added. Taking potshots at Congress, Shah said there should not be various power centres in democracy.

"BJP believes in that and we have done that," he said. Shah said Modi-led government had succeeded in reining in the price rise and criticised the Congress for "not fulfilling" its promise to check inflation. "We had promised people to give them a corruption-free government and we have delivered that.

We have also controlled rise in prices. The Congress people who came to power with the promise of uprooting the price rise in 100 days could not even shake it for ten years (of their rule)," the BJP chief said.