Buxar (Bihar): Reaffirming National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government's commitment to giving thrust to development and rooting out poverty and unemployment, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today (Apr 10, 2004) asked the people to give a renewed five-year mandate to the ruling coalition.

''We are committed to ushering in a new era of all round development in the country. We ask you to give us the mandate to run the country for another five years to get rid of unemployment and poverty,'' Vajpayee said kicking off his campaign in Bihar by addressing an election meeting.

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Stating that the NDA had promised to provide employment to one crore people every year, Vajpayee said, "We might not have been able to provide employment to one crore people but have succeeded in creating jobs for 88 lakh unemployed.

''I promise you that we will create much more employment opportunities during our next term. The Congress sees unemployment everywhere because they are themselves going to be jobless,'' he said calling upon the unemployed youth to be patient and not take to the gun.

''Taking to the gun will neither give you employment, nor would it strengthen democracy or change the course of history,'' he said.

Enumerating steps his Government had taken to accelerate the pace of development during the last six years, Vajpayee said, ''It is all too evident that what they (Congress) could not achieve in 40 years we did in six.

The foreign exchange reserves have swelled and the granaries were brimming with foodstocks, he said adding, ''I thank you for giving us five years. Give us five more to reap the full benefits of development.''

Asserting that the six years of NDA rule had exploded the myth that only Congress Governments can complete full term in office, Vajpayee said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not have a majority, but it successfully ran the Government with full support from coalition partners.

Taking a dig at the Congress for first propping up non-Congress Governments and then pulling the rug from under their feet, the Prime Minister said, "We did not want to meet the fate of Charan Singh, H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral.''

Asserting that his Government was committed to radically improving the infrastructure, Vajpayee said the Golden Quadrilateral project and the ambitious plan for inter-linking of rivers bore testimony to that.

''No progress can be achieved without good all-weather roads. We cannot tame the nature but to some extent control the flow of surplus water, which goes waste, by flowing into the sea. The inter-linking of rivers would go a long way in tackling recurrent floods and drought, which pose a major challenge to the country's economy,'' he said.