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Criticism not based on facts: BJP

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The sharp attack on the National Democratic Alliance government policies of over five years, described as “anti-farmer” by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Parliament on Wednesday, provoked the BJP to say that “such speeches” should be delivered at election rallies rather than in Parliament.

BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha V.K. Malhotra said that to score political points, the Prime Minister, in his reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, had said things which were “not based on facts.” However, Mr. Malhotra did not specify which facts Mr. Singh had distorted.

Angered by the Prime Minister’s direct attack on the Leader of the Opposition, L.K. Advani, in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Malhotra pointed out that after four years in office it was not right for the Prime Minister to blame the NDA government for wrong policies.

“It was an attempt to throw a blanket on the failures of his own government.”

The BJP did not contradict the Prime Minister’s charge that the increases in the minimum support price for wheat and rice during the NDA regime was negligible and the UPA had comparatively given hefty increases in the MSP. But Mr. Malhotra said that inflation was the current government’s weak point and “prices of essential commodities had gone up by 30 to 200 per cent.”

The Prime Minister had not yet clarified how the Rs.60,000 crore debt waiver for farmers would be met. “It seems this government would leave it to future governments,” he said.

If the NDA were to come back to power it would “happily” work to write off the debts.

Significantly, Mr. Malhotra dissociated his party from the former National Security Adviser and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Brajesh Mishra.

He was responding to the Prime Minister’s statement that Mr. Mishra’s conscience had led him to declare support to the India-U.S. nuclear deal, expressed by him in an interview. When reporters questioned Mr. Malhotra on this, he said: “Brajesh Mishra is not a member of the BJP. He does not represent the BJP.”

Separately, BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu criticised the debt waiver announcement for farmers, saying it would not cover the most needy and poor among the small and marginal farmers who normally borrowed from the village money-lender. “If something is done for him I will be the first to welcome it,” he said.

When it was pointed out that Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had said that the government had announced a scheme for debt swap — farmers could borrow from banks at lower interest rates to pay back money-lenders — Mr. Sidhu said he did not know about this.

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