The Opposition parties on Thursday asked the government to quit if it could not govern properly and referred to an “inbuilt instability’’ evident from the piquant situation created for the UPA government by its ally Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee seeking removal of the railway minister for increasing fares in the Rail Budget. Taking a swipe at the government, BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said if the Congress could not talk to its allies and govern properly, it should “get out”.
Participating in the debate on the motion of thanks to the President for her address to Parliament, Mr Naidu accused the government of having broken the “coalition dharma” by “enticing” a member of its coalition partner. He said the entire country is agog with the news that Mr Dinesh Trivedi has resigned and there is no clarity whether the Railway Budget will remain in its original shape or not.
“The foundation of this government is being shaken brick by brick. Because this government and the Prime Minister do not know how to run a coalition government... The government is losing the confidence of the nation, certainly of Opposition as also of its coalition partners,” he said. The talks of mid-term election is gaining ground because of the allies of the government and not the Opposition, he said.
He termed the Centre’s move on the National Counter-Terrorism Centre and FDI as an assault on federalism and accused the Centre of discriminating against non-Congress states.
He also said some of the UPA allies want to take the role of Opposition because there is no leader, who commands the respect of all.
“This government has become chalti ka naam gaadi,” he said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was seated in the House as Mr Naidu launched the diatribe against the government. Mr Naidu described the President’s speech as a “grocery shop list” and said it lacked vision.