Taking a dig at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, senior BJP leader L.K. Advani on Sunday made a comparison between NDA rule with that of UPA by saying that Atal Behari Vajpayee-led coalition government never used “phoney constraints” as an excuse for compromising on integrity or good governance.
In his latest blog, which he posted on Sunday, Mr Advani said, “The PM’s television interaction with some leading journalists last week has been disappointing. It shows much less concern about corruption than about phoney coalition constraints.” Commenting for the first time on the Prime Minister’s recent interaction with news channel heads, the BJP veteran conceded that his party was “acutely aware” that in policy matters, coalition partners have a restraining effect. But he went on to add that these could not be cited as an excuse for making compromises.
The BJP parliamentary party chief claimed that had NDA’s alliance partner TDP not opposed the formation of Telangana, the Atal Behari Vajpayee government would have gone ahead with it. “If our alliance partner TDP had been agreeable, we could have with as much ease formed Telangana also. But our coalition dharma did not permit it,” he admitted.
“But neither the Vajpayee government, nor any other NDA government in the states has ever allowed coalition dharma to become an alibi or excuse for compromising with integrity or good governance,” he said. Mr Advani argued that Congress rule during the first 30 years after independence had led to corruption, which led Jai Prakash Narain to launch the campaign against the menace and unite the Opposition parties. “The seeds were laid for the evolution of the bipolar polity which it has today become. It would thus be clear that the catalyst for the first major turning point in our political history was corruption,” the BJP leader said.