BJP will cancel Setu Samudram project: Rajnath

New Delhi, Apr 14 : The BJP has said it will cancel the Setu Samudram Shipping Channel Project taken up by the Congress-led UPA at the Centre, if it is voted back to power.

Addressing an election meeting at Bhadrak in Orissa on Tuesday, BJP president Rajnath Singh said they would drop the project if party-led NDA returns to power.

"We are committed to protect the country’s heritage, including the Ram Setu," he said.The project had sparked a controversy following possible destruction of Ram Setu during laying of the channel.

Holding the Congress "responsible" for price rise of essential commodities, Singh said the poor had become poorer under the UPA rule.Attacking former ally BJD, the saffron leader said it had played the role of a "traitor" by unilaterally breaking the 11-year-old alliance.

"BJD will face the fate of JD(S) in Karnataka," he added.

"People betray us. We (BJP) never betray anyone," he said, adding the regional party would suffer defeat in the ensuing Lok Sabha and assembly polls for its "act of betrayal."

Desperation and frustration clear in Congress: BJP

The BJP has said "desperation and frustration" in the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls was "clearly reflected" in its constant attack on party’s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani.

"This is (statements of Congress leaders) a clear reflection of their desperation and frustration for failing to answer about their five years of misgovernance," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a party briefing in New Delhi on Tuesday.

He was referring to the statements of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, raising questions about the leadership qualities of Advani.