Why celebrations, Sushma asks UPA

Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday wondered what was there for the UPA-II to celebrate for its four-year record on its anniversary day. Instead, she demanded that the UPA should seriously introspect and apologize to the nation for the mind-boggling corruption running into figures never heard of before and for hitting hardest the common man. She vowed that the BJP will expose the UPA, organise jail-bharo from May 27 to June 2 and will urge the people to throw out this government, whenever elections are held.

Buoyed by the recent opinion polls, which point to the decline and shrinking of UPA popularity and the NDA gaining ground, the principal Opposition party stepped up its offensive against the ruling Congress. Claiming that Third Front is a failed idea and that the country is now a bipolar polity, the BJP feels that decline of the Congress would naturally help the BJP to gain momentum. BJP not being ready with a Prime Ministerial face also does not seem to deter it.

"Whether we will have a Prime Ministerial face or not and if we decide to have a face, who it will be, these issues will be decided by the BJP Parliamentary Board in consultation with NDA partners," Sushma Swaraj explained.

Along with Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj slammed the Congress-led UPA Government for its dismal record. The BJP targeted the UPA for diminishing the post of the Prime Minister. Sushma Swaraj said, "Manmohan Singh is the Prime Minister, but he is neither a leader of the Congress nor of the country. Manmohan Singh's colleagues sit with him in the Cabinet, but look to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi for directions. Such a split leadership is the biggest failure of UPA."

Echoing Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley said, "UPA has devalued the Prime Minister's post like never before. There is no political role left for the Prime Minister under the UPA dispensation. What is worse, the Prime Minister has become the target of sarcasm and humour." There is an atmosphere of gloom, pessimism, cynicism and negativism all-around, he said.

The BJP seized upon the fourth anniversary of UPA-II to target its record on economy, the security situation and even the foreign policy. Policy paralysis hit the Government. "The lone achievement of the UPA Government is that it has completed its term in office, on strength of the CBI, because of which the SP and BSP have propped up this Government," remarked Arun Jaitley.

Sushma Swaraj said the state of the economy cannot be assessed by the GDP and fiscal deficit alone. Not only there is no fresh investment, but there is flight of investment from the country. The Vajpayee Government left behind a booming economy, but the UPA Government thoroughly messed it up, she said. On foreign policy front, too, there is total failure, as even a small country like Maldives dares India. The entire neighbourhood is disturbed.

The issue of Chinese incursion on the Western front was resolved primarily because of Chinese Premier Li Kequiang's visit, as otherwise it would have dragged on indefinitely.

Venkat Parsa