'Tainted' ministers will stay, says PM

Rubbish", said the normally mild-mannered Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, when he was asked, on the sidelines of the Padma Shri and other awards functions in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, whether he was going to Andhra Pradesh to discuss his entry to the Lok Sabha.

"I am going to Andhra Pradesh to talk to farmers about their difficulties," he said, adding he had not applied his mind to where he would seek election to the Lok Sabha from.

The Prime Minister similarly displayed spirit not detected before, in answering the Opposition demand that tainted ministers be removed from the United Progressive Alliance government.

"This is not the first time that ministers who have been charged have held on to their portfolios. I think the previous government itself had several (of them). Now making a difference between charges-heeted for one person and others. I do not think it is a very tenable distinction," he said.

"I think, there are compulsions of coalition politics. People have given a verdict. You cannot deprive large sections of people they represented," Singh said.

He said the government was working hard and learning fast. "The government should not be judged by what it says but what it does," he said.

Accountability for rural development funds was crucial, he said and hinted at administrative reforms when he pointed out that vast sums of money went into rural development but accountability was an issue because officials had ten-ures only a few months long.

In an apparent reference to the disruption in the first session of the Lok Sabha, Singh hoped that "better sense" would prevail with the Opposition and that it would cooperate with the government in orderly conduct of business of the two Houses of Parliament.

"I appeal to their good sense. And I do not say it with any sense of anger," he said.

The BJP, however, said on Wednesday it would continue with its agitation inside and outside Parliament on the issue of "tainted" ministers and indicated it would boycott Railway Budget presentation by Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav.

Singh also said POTA would be repealed in due course of time and the government was committed to creating a consensus on the women's reservation Bill.

On employment generation, he said all problems could not be solved in one go on account of constraints of finance. He said the government was experimenting with "food for work" programme and in due course, "we will convert it to guaranteed employment for 100 days. But it will take time to work these out."