 "Sushma Swaraj, BJP")
As the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre completed four years of its second term, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today asked it to apologise to the people for price rise, alleged corruption and policy paralysis. It also launched a attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, arguing he was neither a leader of his party, nor of the country.
The BJP leadership said UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi always had the last word on issues related to policy and governance, adding members of the Congress were looking at Rahul Gandhi for leadership. They said ministers looked at Sonia Gandhi to resolve their problems; they didn’t approach Manmohan Singh, who headed the Cabinet.
“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is synonymous with indecision, inability and silence. Never in history has the institution of the prime minister been at the receiving end of wit, sarcasm and ridicule. The legitimacy of the office of the prime minister has been denuded,” said Arun Jaitley, leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
Blaming the UPA government of inaction against corruption, BJP leaders said if the Union government had taken timely action against former law minister Ashwani Kumar and former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, the food security and land acquisition Bills would have passed during the recent budget session.
“We wanted Parliament to function, but the Union government did not act against its ministers. If the government had taken timely action, both the food security Bill and the land acquisition Bill would have been discussed and passed in the Budget session,” said Sushma Swaraj, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha.
The Opposition leaders also accused the UPA of using the Central Bureau of Investigation to arm-twist alliance partners such as the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party into supporting the government for the last four years.
Senior BJP members attributed the government’s alleged policy paralysis, the lack of infrastructure growth in the country and the current state of the economy to alleged differences between Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi.
“What is the UPA celebrating? Is it celebrating price rise, corruption, lack of respect for democratic and constitutional institutions? The country is facing a divided leadership. Manmohan Singh is only the prime minister, not a leader of his party or the country. Union ministers look at the Congress president to resolve their problems. There is a battle for one-upmanship between the prime minister and Sonia Gandhi,” said Swaraj.
The comments come at a time the BJP leadership is also going through a similar crisis. Even as Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP leader Narendra Modi gains popularity within the organisation as the party’s prime ministerial candidate, BJP leaders believe the party’s parliamentary board would also discuss the name of party veteran L K Advani for leading the party in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
“The final decision will be taken by the parliamentary board. We will also discuss the name of L K Advani. The important question is whether the BJP will name a prime ministerial candidate before the election or not,” Swaraj said.
