The Hindu : Front Page : It’s for Manmohan to decide : BJP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 17, 2007
ePaper

Front Page

Front Page

It’s for Manmohan to decide : BJP

Special Correspondent

UPA reached its “lowest point” during nuclear pact standoff: Advani
Still we are not ruling out a mid-term poll: Rajnath

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday wanted to know whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had the courage to resign after having made the India-United States nuclear deal a prestige issue.

The party pointed out that Dr. Singh had said the deal was in the best interests of the country, it could not be re-negotiated and those opposing it could take it or do what they could. “Now he says that it will be a disappointment if the deal fell through but it is not the end of life.”

Party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said that having staked his entire prestige on the deal, it was for him to decide whether he should resign on a matter of principle.

“Opportunistic” alliance

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani told PTI that the United Progressive Alliance had reached its “lowest point” during the nuclear pact standoff between the Congress and the Left. The difficulty faced by the UPA in operationalising the deal was indicative of the “opportunistic” nature of the alliance. Mr. Advani reiterated that from the strategic point of view the deal was “undesirable” as it would bring the country into the non-proliferation regime through the backdoor.

Separately, during an informal interaction with journalists, BJP president Rajnath Singh, referring to the problems between the UPA and the Left on the nuclear deal, said though Dr. Singh claimed that the government would not fall on this issue, the BJP did not rule out a mid-term poll. “Bickering between the UPA and its friends had gone too far for this alliance to last very long. The Central Secretariat had almost stopped functioning in the last five months as the Congress and the Left were engaged in a verbal duel over the nuclear deal.”

Mr. Singh said the BJP did not object to a discussion in Parliament on the deal. “We had asked for a discussion under Rule 184 [a substantive motion with a mandatory vote at the end] in the Lok Sabha and formation of a joint parliamentary committee.” He said he was awaiting a report from general secretary Arun Jaitley, who is in Gujarat, before deciding on disciplinary action against dissidents who were openly hobnobbing with the Congress. Mr. Singh tried to downplay the factionalism in the Gujarat unit, saying all parties faced problems of this kind. “A few people leave the party and a few people join the party … but, the BJP has never faced a vertical split.”

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page