NEW DELHI - Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Monday said the ‘aam admi’, or common man, has been badly let down during the five years of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule.

Speaking after the interim budget was presented, Advani, the BJP’s prime ministerial aspirant, said the UPA tenure has only helped those in the top financial bracket to become multi-millionaire or billionaires.

‘In his budget speech today, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee did well to recall that the UPA government had been elected in 2004 on the basis of the promises made to the ‘aam admi’. However, the ‘aam admi’ today feels badly let down,’ Advani said.

‘In his speech Mukherjee said the real heroes of India’s success story were our farmers. But a cruel irony is that in these very five years, tens of thousands of kisans (farmers) have been committing suicide,’ he added.

‘This is the last budget of the UPA’s five-year term. This is indeed a farewell budget, and it does provide ample justification why the people also should bid farewell to the Congress and this government,’ said Advani.