Ravi Shankar Prasad, spokesman of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who is in-charge of the Assembly elections in Chattisgarh, accused the Centre of betraying the common man by allowing steep rise in the prices of essential commodities and putting the country into an era of food insecurity.

Addressing newsmen, Ravi Shankar said the National Democratic Alliance government had never allowed things to come to such a pass.

He sarcastically said this situation "had come when country has an economist of the stature of Dr Manmohan Singh [Images]".

"In fact, prices have continued to rise in the last four years. The nation is suddenly entitled to know as to why a food economy of surplus which the NDA government has left has become an economy of scarcity during the UPA regime. It is well known that we had the highest record of buffer stock of food grains and the situation was so comfortable that food grains worth Rs 7000 crore were even exported in 2003. Now, the situation is so alarming that the prices of essential food articles have shown an alarming rise even after the presentation of the so-called pro-people budget in March," he said.

He termed the talks of third front an illusion.

"The comical political theatre which is presently going in the country in the name of the illusory third front clearly demonstrates that it is less of an ideological combination and more of a platform for convenient political bargain," he said, charging the Left of enjoying power without accountability.

Ms J Jayalalithaa, former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Prasad said, has already turned down the proposal of forming a third front.

"The politics of the country has become bipolar wherein the BJP and the Congress are the principal parties," he said.

He was confident that under the leadership of Dr Raman Singh, the BJP would regain power in the Assembly elections.

"His scheme of 35 kg of rice for people living the poverty line at the rate of Rs 3 per kg has worked wonders," a visibly-pleased Prasad, who returned from a four-day tour to the state, said.