Journalism of Courage
Smarting under the attack from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,who accused it of disrupting Parliament,the BJP on Friday petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee,requesting him to advise the government to seek a fresh mandate around the time of the assembly elections later this year itself.
The country can ill-afford at this moment of crisis a government which is paralysed,a prime minister who never speaks,a finance minister who wrongly blames his immediate predecessor who is unable to defend himself,a supreme leader who does not care about where the money will come from and a bureaucracy which is frozen and unable to act, said the memorandum submitted by a delegation of BJP top leaders who met the President.
The ministers of this government are unbridled and working at cross-purposes. The relationship of the Government of India with the state governments,specially the non-UPA ruled states,is at its nadir, the memorandum said.
We have come to urge you,therefore,to end the prevailing uncertainty by advising this government to seek a fresh mandate at the earliest and not later than the state elections due in the next three months, it said. The BJP delegation included L K Advani,Sushma Swaraj,Arun Jaitley,Rajnath Singh,Murli Manohar Joshi,Jaswant Singh,Yashwant Sinha and Ravi Shankar Prasad.
However,the party said it was not considering moving a no-confidence motion to facilitate early elections. This government has got enough means like CBI,ED and the Income Tax to abuse for forging a manufactured majority, party deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters. He was responding to a question on why BJP was not considering a no-confidence motion.
The party,meanwhile,described the PMs remarks in the Rajya Sabha as bitter. We felt that the PMs statement today about the economy was full of pessimism,negativism and bitterness, Prasad told reporters. Can such a bitter PM having such negative instincts give hope,faith and confidence?
The PM has tried to pass the blame on the opposition. He should explain whether corruption is the cause of disruption in Parliament or these disruptions cause corruption, Prasad said.
Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said,I am very sad after the debate. We expected the PM to come out with a positive agenda for economic revival. Instead we got an angry and bitter prime minister that the country cannot afford.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj termed the PMs remarks as ungraceful. The rupee has lost its value. The PM has lost his grace, she tweeted.
Advani expressed sadness over the PMs remarks against the BJP,saying,It is particularly sad and hurtful.
