PM should ‘assert’ himself more for running govt: Arun Jaitley

He said there were “dual power centres” in the UPA government and asked the Prime Minister to “assert” himself more for running the government.

“When UPA came to power nine years ago,there was a buzz of excitement about India. The NDA had left power with 8 per cent growth rate and now,we may have a less than 5 per cent growth rate. The atmosphere has changed from that of enthusiasm to sense of cynicism about India,” he said.

Jaitley said the UPA should also introspect about its governance model which cannot function properly in a democratic set up.

“In any democracy,in policy making,in governance,the last word should be of that of the Prime Minister. The UPA is not following this governance model… There is a leadership crisis and there is crisis of credibility. The leadership crisis is obvious as dual power centres cannot function in a democracy,” he said.

The BJP leader said the Prime Minister and his Cabinet have the collective responsibility of running the nation and there cannot be an advisory council over it whose decisions are bound to be followed by the ministries of the government.

“This weakens the government and this impacts its functioning,” he said.

He said the number of corruption charges against the government in the last three-four years have raised question marks over its credibility and also changed the way India is looked upon in the world.