Govt not working: Hegde

In an interview with Home TV to be broadcast tomorrow night, Hegde said he felt the PM may also be somewhat disappointed at the performance of his coalition government.

8220;It is not working because several elements have taken a certain stand8230;Where hard decisions have to be taken one has to take decisions, one has to assert. I agree if you say that the Prime Minister should have asserted himself when unreasonable demands were made. Many people say perhaps he committed a mistake,8221; Hegde said.

Coming from a key ally in the BJP-led government, Hegde8217;s remarks must also be seen in the context of Saturday8217;s CoordinationCommittee deliberations.

Hegde also had a few words of advice for his Prime Minister. 8220;He has to be firm and he has to be tough if necessary in the interest of keeping his coalition intact. He has to perhaps choose his colleagues and if necessary, he should reshuffle his Cabinet perhaps after the Budget session,8221; he added.

Clearly, the Lok Shakti chief was not averse to publicly criticising his own allies in the Government, whose joint performance in the last two months, he said, was characterised by unpleasantness. 8220;If it was a love marriage it would have been a lovely honeymoon. But it was a kind of arranged marriage. The last two months have been a period of unpleasantness,8221; he added.

He went on to not only describe Prime Minister Vajpayee as looking 8220;physically weak,8221; but also that Law Minister Thambidurai8217;s comments and actions were avoidable, that Defence Minister George Fernandes8217;s statements over China were unnecessary. Fernandes, he said, was a 8220;highly emotional8221; man, who once calledIndian industrialists 8220;dogs or something.8221;

Hegde criticised Thambidurai8217;s comments on the cases against Jayalalitha, saying if he8217;d been in his position he 8220;would not have made that statement.8221; He went on to add that the reported decision to replace the lawyers supposed to be prosecuting Jayalalitha was one that 8220;defied the ethics of administration.8221;

Fernandes, on the other hand, should not have criticised China because 8220;We should not say anything unnecessarily which would strain our relationship particularly with China. America is wooing China. All the other countries are bending over backwards to have excellent relations. We should not be the odd one out.8221;

He also dissociated himself from the actions of the Shiv Sena and the Bajrang Dal, abusing guests from Pakistan and damaging art belonging to noted painter M F Hussain. 8220;It is totally wrong. I condemn it with all my might. This is absolute nonsense. It is against our own culture,8221; he said.