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BJP creates spectre of instability: Congress

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Saturday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party for “creating a spectre of instability in the United Progressive Alliance government, when there was none.”

“Government stable”

Reacting to the BJP demand for a “trust vote” in Parliament, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said: “The government is stable. Nobody has withdrawn support, so where is the question of a trust vote? Even constitutionally it is only the President who can ask the government to go for a trust vote.”

Senior Congress leader and AICC general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh said the need for a “trust vote” would arise only when the Left parties write to the President that they were withdrawing support to the UPA government. “That has not happened so far, so why is the BJP jumping the gun?”

Mr. Tewari said: “The real theatre of the absurd is that the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha [L.K. Advani] has chosen a moment [to raise a demand for confidence vote in Parliament] when the Prime Minister is planning to travel abroad and engage in serious diplomacy.”

Responding to Mr. Advani’s charge that there had been uncertainty in the government for the last 18 months over the India-U.S. nuclear deal, he said the government was not in turmoil “except in his own mind.” The government was functioning in a cohesive manner.

Differing perceptions

In any coalition, there could be a difference of perception which could not be qualified as turmoil or instability. The BJP was opposing the deal because it was not doing it, he said.

Economic emergency

On the charge of Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh that the country was heading towards an “economic emergency” on account of inflation, Mr. Tewari said Mr. Singh had the reputation of being a wordsmith.

“I would have expected that he would have used his words more carefully. Economic emergency is not a term that should be bandied about loosely.”

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