BJP to target Cong-SP ties, price rise

  • 08/07/2008

  • Indian Express (New Delhi)

With its key demands on Parliament's approval for the deal having been met by the UPA Government, the BJP is set to raise the pitch on the "unholy alliance' between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, the price rise, the farmers' issue and the Congress-led Government's "dismal record on the internal security front'. The NDA will meet here on Wednesday to discuss the alliance's future course of action. "We wanted the Government to take a vote of confidence at an emergency session of Parliament. We said a minority government doesn't have the political or moral legitimacy to go ahead with a major international agreement. The Government has accepted our demands, but it's more due to the US laws that stipulate that a minority government cannot enter into international treaties, even if there are no similar laws in India,' said a senior BJP leader. Senior party leader L K Advani indicated the party's future course of action when he attacked the "opportunistic alliance sewn up in the last one week' at a memorial lecture here on Tuesday: "I have often criticised the Left on ideological issues, but they have a point when they say the nuclear deal is not mentioned in their common minimum programme. What's the (Congress-SP) deal behind the Indo-US nuclear deal? Is it for a reprieve in some cases of economic offences?' he asked. "Credibility of the political class is extremely important, especially in an era of coalitions. But what kind of a Government is this that has not discussed anything except for the nuclear deal in the last year-and-a-half? Do issues like price rise exist at all? It seems the Government is paralysed on all other fronts,' he said. In a statement, party president Rajnath Singh said, "The Left parties deliberately delayed their decision to withdraw the support to the UPA Government. With the active support from Left parties, the Congress has ruined the country's image, both nationally and internationally.' Earlier in the day, senior party leaders including Rajnath Singh, Ram Lal, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Shourie, Vijay Goel, V K Malhotra and Ravi Shankar Prasad met at Advani's residence. The meeting, lasting an hour, discussed the party's strategy to pin the Congress on a range of issues, the nuclear deal being just one of them. The one-page statement, released after the meeting, was full of issues on price rise, farm crisis, rising interest rates, Government's track record on internal security and the crisis in Jammu and Kashmir.' "No government has undermined institutions and norms; no government has bent to foreign powers as has this Government. The issue before MPs is not the nuclear deal alone. The issue is the failures and betrayals of the UPA Government,' read the statement.