"Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul keep on talking that the Congress has been striving for eradicating poverty but the fact remains that the Congress party has done least to uplift the living conditions of the poor," alleged BJP national leader M Venkaiah Naidu.

Naidu was addressing a gathering of intellectuals, professionals and academics organised by 'Friends of BJP' in Hyderabad. "They (Congress) are ruling the country for last 50 years but talking as if the BJP was in the power and Congress party was in opposition," he said.

Quoting a recent national survey, Naidu said five crore families have been included in the below poverty line (BPL) during last five years regime of the United Progressive Alliance government. The BJP leader said his party is prepared for a debate on the condition of the poor and their welfare programmes carried out by Congress.

Flaying the comment of Rahul Gandhi expressing his concern for the poor, Naidu said "the young leader wanted to have a feel of poor, whereas we are working and living with poor."

Naidu requested the people to support the BJP candidates for a bright future of the country. Speaking on the occasion, BJP Member of Parliament and eminent journalist Arun Shourie alleged that wrong policies pursued by Manmohan Singh-led UPA government had posed a grave threat for the country's security.

More than 67,000 innocent persons were killed due to Pakistan sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir [Images] so far, while China is extending its surveillance on Indian Army [Images], Shourie claimed.

"This government does not want to face the facts," he asserted. The BJP leader said the values and standard of institutions have been degraded during the rule of the UPA government recalling that a Union minister in the UPA who was convicted by the court in a murder case was later made the chief minister of Jharkhand.