The Hindu : National : Set your house in order, Congress tells Advani

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 21, 2004

National

National

Set your house in order, Congress tells Advani

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, OCT. 20. The Congress today joined issue with the new Bharatiya Janata Party president, L.K. Advani, stating that instead of unveiling his "vision and agenda" for the party, his attack on the Congress and the United Progressive Alliance Government showed that the BJP had not come to terms with its defeat in the general elections.

"One would have imagined that the new leader would set forth a new vision and agenda for the party. Unfortunately, he continued with same destructive attitude displayed by the BJP in Parliament of disrupting normal functioning and not contributing anything substantive to politics," the Congress spokesperson, Jayanti Natarjan, said.

The Congress would normally not comment on the internal developments in the BJP. But we are reacting now, as Mr. Advani had chosen the occasion to criticise the UPA Government and the Prime Minister, she said.

Mr. Advani's comment that the UPA Government would not last its full term was nothing but "wishful thinking," she said and accused the BJP of trying to destabilise the Government.

"Instead of doing its duty to the people as a constructive Opposition, the BJP was dreaming to topple (the Government) and how to come back to power," she said.

Security concerns

Ms. Natarajan emphasised that the Congress-led UPA Government would provide a "stable government and good governance." She took objection to the BJP president expressing concern over security of the country.

"It does not lie in the mouth of Mr. Advani, under whose tenure as the Home Minister, there were attacks on the Akshardham temple, Parliament, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, and blasts in a Jammu temple," she said, adding that the terrorists involved in some of the attacks were those who were escorted by the then Union Minister, Jaswant Singh, to Kandahar. Mr. Advani had promised a white paper on Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and such a thing had not been published.

On Mr. Advani's comment about the stature of the Prime Minister, she said he was flogging a dead horse.

"For a man who played the super Prime Minister he cannot point fingers... " It would be better for the new BJP chief to concentrate on "putting his house (party) in order."

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