Opposition conspiring to pull down UPA govt: PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today accused the Opposition of not accepting the mandate of the Lok Sabha elections and conspiring to pull down his government.

"The BJP has not accepted the mandate and has been conspiring to pull down the UPA government since the day it assumed power," Singh told an election rally here.

He said the Opposition is not allowing the UPA government to function by repeatedly disrupting the Lok Sabha.

There are forces that want to divide the country on the basis of religion and caste. The aim should be prevent such elements from succeeding, Singh said.

Promising voters to help realise the dreams that Shankarao Chavan had for this region, he said the Congress was committed to translating them into reality.

The Congress was determined to give a tangible form to the dreams chalked out by Chavan, the PM said.

Describing Chavan as his "guru", the Prime Minister said he had learnt a lot from the late leader when he was his secretary during the time Chavan was the Planning Commission Chairman.

Playing the backwardness card, Singh alleged that during its tenure the Saffron combine had done little to address the problems of this region.

Urging the voters to strengthen the hands of Congress president Sonia Gandhi by giving a mandate in favour of the Congress-NCP alliance, he said, the Congress was eager to follow the path of development chalked out by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

The Congress president, Singh said, had sent a message to the voters that if unemployment and illiteracy were to be wiped out and development ushered in, the mandate had to be in favour of the Congress and its allies.

Listing education, tribal development and women's rights as the priorities of his government, Singh said the Congress would fulfill the promise of transforming the goals of Ambedkar into reality.

Lauding the leadership of Gandhi, he said the sacrifice of the Congress president in giving up the coveted PM's post in favour of working for the nation and strengthening the party was worthy of praise.

Citing the famous poem "Mazhab nahin sikhata aapas main bair rakhana, Hindi hain humwatan hain Hindustan hamara...", Singh harped on the secular nature of the Congress and its commitment to communal peace and harmony.

The Congress, he said, was determined to take all religious groups together and walk shoulder-to-shoulder with them on the path of progress and speedy development.