Terming Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s charge that the BJP was attacking the government to vent its anger over the action taken against a Gujarat minister (Amit Shah) “laughable”, the main Opposition on Wednesday accused him of trying to “cover up” the various scams. The saffron party also said that “coalition dharma” did not mean supporting corruption.
The ruling Congress, however, utilising the prime Minister’s accusation against the BJP, questioned the main Opposition as to why a Supreme Court-supervised CBI action against a former Gujarat minister should come in the way of the reform measure.
The PM, during his televised interaction with editors of TV news channels, had said that the Opposition, “particularly the BJP”, has taken a very “hostile attitude”, because of some decision taken “against a particular person, against a minister in Gujarat”.
“If the Prime Minister has given a statement, it needs to be taken seriously. The BJP should introspect as to why an important economic reform like GST should be stopped because the CBI has, as per the Supreme Court direction, proceeded against someone accused in a fake encounter case,” AICC spokesperson Manish Tewari said.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari, however, termed as “laughable” the PM’s charge that the BJP was attacking the government to vent its anger over the action taken against a Gujarat minister. “The PM’s press conference was very disappointing and shows his helplessness. Coalition dharma cannot mean support to corruption. And coalition is related only to 2G. What is the relation between coalition and the case of Isro (S-band allocation), Commonwealth Games and Adarsh cases?” Mr Gadkari asked, while accusing Dr Singh of trying to shield the corrupt.
On the issue of JPC and functioning of Parliament during the Budget Session, he said, “The Prime Minister has again tried to blame the Opposition for not allowing Parliament to function. If today the government has indicated that it is ready to think on a JPC, then why did it waste one month (Winter Session)?”
He maintained that if the PM is willing to depose before any parliamentary committee, then he should have agreed to a JPC probe much earlier.
Though the BJP chief evaded questions on whether the party wanted Dr Singh to resign, he said as the “captain” of the team (government) he is responsible for bad performance.