Criticising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his statement that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is the right choice to lead India, the BJP on Saturday said the question is whether the country is ready to accept him as leader.
The party also claimed that it compelled a “reluctant Prime Minister” to speak in Parliament on key issues. The main opposition also expressed satisfaction over its performance in the Monsoon Session of Parliament and claimed that it prevented “hasty decisions” on legislations lacking unanimity.
“The question is not who the prime minister wants to work under. The people of the country will have to decide if they are ready to accept Rahul Gandhi as prime minister,” senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
He said Dr Singh and the Congress leadership are responsible for problems that the country is facing and added “The rest is upto Manmohan Singh... But the country has decided what it wants.”
The BJP claimed it helped in the passage of pro-farmer, pro-poor bills and social welfare legislations. It said that without its support Food Security, Land Acquisition and Pensions Bills could not have been passed.
It also claimed that on issues where the government wanted to pass legislations in a hurry despite objections, the main opposition played the role of a “responsible opposition” and ensured the bills were sent to the standing committees.
In a joint press conference, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley alleged the government is facing huge anti-incumbency, non-performance, serious allegations of corruption and mismanagement of the economy.
The party claimed that while the UPA had initially decided upon an escapist route by cutting short the size of the Monsoon Session and merely pass certain key legislations, it was the opposition that prevailed and ensured discussions on key issues like state of the economy, the falling Rupee, attack of Pakistan forces on Indian soldiers, Chinese incursions and Uttarakhand tragedy. The BJP said it insisted on several amendments in the Food Security Bill to make it more effective. It also claimed the Land Acquisition Bill was passed with 216 votes after BJP voted for it which shows that the UPA government is in minority. It said some of the amendments suggested by it were accepted by the government.
and this brought a “balance” in the Bill.
“Even a reluctant Prime Minister was compelled to make a statement on the state of the economy and face the grilling before Parliament,” Mr Jaitley said.
On the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, BJP
insisted that it gave its support only after the government agreed to cap FDI at 26 per cent as against the UPA’s bid to hike it to 49 per cent at one go.
It also attacked the government on the coal scam and the missing files
relating to the coal block allocations. On the Telangana issue, the party alleged Congress announced the decision to form Telangana on the eve of the monsoon session knowing well that this announcement would “cast a shadow on this session and it indeed did”.
“They made the announcement and then did nothing. They should have brought the Bill for creating Telangana in this session. But they took no step,” Ms Swaraj said. She accused UPA of “complete mismanagement” of the issue.