The Hindu : National : Manmohan buckling under pressure: BJP

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Friday, Jul 07, 2006

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National

Manmohan buckling under pressure: BJP

Special Correspondent

"Developments prove that he is ready to compromise to stay in power'

NEW DELHI: "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is clearly buckling under pressure, sometimes from supporting parties to the Left, and sometimes from allies to the right," Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary and spokesperson Arun Jaitley said on Thursday.

He was reacting to developments of the day such as the Prime Minister putting on hold all disinvestments proposals after Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi threatened to pull out of the United Progressive Alliance Government if it were to go ahead with the proposal to divest some equity in the Neyveli Lignite Corporation.

"Mockery of governance"

"It is a mockery of governance," Mr. Jaitley said but added "I did not expect anything better."

"It now seems that the Prime Minister is no longer a power centre. On reservation, it was his Minister Arjun Singh who set the agenda; on Narmada it was another Minister Saifuddin Soz who decided what stand to take; and on other issues the Prime Minister is buffeted around by other Ministers."

Mr. Jaitley did not want to comment on the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences issue, as he is counsel for P. Venugopal, whose removal has been sought by the Institute body.

Another BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said the Government was clearly not able to take reforms forward. It was no longer committed to reforms, but "only committed to remaining in power".

The happenings on Thursday, he said, had exposed the UPA's "fragility" as an alliance that had "no ideological cohesion." and was the result of a "marriage of convenience."

On divestment of some equity in NLC and other profit making public sector undertakings, he said, "Let the Government make a concrete proposal; let those proposals be approved by its allies; we will comment only then."

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