07-08-2006, 01:33 AM
<b>Rumours of PM quitting create a flutter</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Meanwhile, the BJP rubbed salt into the Prime Minister's wounds by questioning his authority and isolation and advising him to ask why he is the country's Prime Minister.
<b>"Is the PM caving in to pressures from all quarters, because the Congress has refused to stand by him,"</b> asked party general secretary Arun Jaitley on Friday.
<b>"There is a complete policy paralysis that has struck the Government. It is unprecedented that individual ministers are setting the agenda for the Prime Minister, and he is caving in to them. The drift is so large that the Prime Minister's ability to lead the country comes under a serious question. He is willing to lean so as to please any pressure group," </b>Mr Jaitley said.
Referring to the BJP's assertions that there were extra constitutional centres of power within the UPA, Jaitley said: <b>"Today this position has been altered. Earlier the Prime Minister used to be a power centre. The PM now has ceased to be a centre of power. Individual ministers and allies set the agenda, the PM gives in."</b>
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>"Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh set the agenda for reservations in institutes of higher learning, PM caved in. So did Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss in the case of AIIMS, Saifuddin Soz in the case of NBA, RJD in Bihar, DMK in the matter of disinvestment, and Prime Minister goes two steps ahead to give in,"</span> Jaitley said.
"It is the defeat of the Prime Minister to put the entire process of disinvestment on hold simply because the DMK objected to disinvesting Neyveli Lignite Corporation beyond 10 per cent.<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'> The Government's policy on Nepal has been outsourced to the CPM. It is unprecedented that the Government's policy in sensitive strategic matters is being outsourced," </span>he said.
Expressing surprise over the state of affairs in the Government, Jaitley said: <b>"One wonders if the present Government is the Congress Government or Congress-led Third Front Government that sacrificed the policy against terrorism for the sake of vote bank politics and India's independent foreign policy after the Indo-US nuclear deal."</b>
<b>Asserting that the NDA Government under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee never faced such situations, Jaitley said: "Whenever the Government took any decisions, the party as well as the allies stood by him. In the case of UPA Government, hardly any decisions are being taken."</b>
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Meanwhile, the BJP rubbed salt into the Prime Minister's wounds by questioning his authority and isolation and advising him to ask why he is the country's Prime Minister.
<b>"Is the PM caving in to pressures from all quarters, because the Congress has refused to stand by him,"</b> asked party general secretary Arun Jaitley on Friday.
<b>"There is a complete policy paralysis that has struck the Government. It is unprecedented that individual ministers are setting the agenda for the Prime Minister, and he is caving in to them. The drift is so large that the Prime Minister's ability to lead the country comes under a serious question. He is willing to lean so as to please any pressure group," </b>Mr Jaitley said.
Referring to the BJP's assertions that there were extra constitutional centres of power within the UPA, Jaitley said: <b>"Today this position has been altered. Earlier the Prime Minister used to be a power centre. The PM now has ceased to be a centre of power. Individual ministers and allies set the agenda, the PM gives in."</b>
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>"Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh set the agenda for reservations in institutes of higher learning, PM caved in. So did Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss in the case of AIIMS, Saifuddin Soz in the case of NBA, RJD in Bihar, DMK in the matter of disinvestment, and Prime Minister goes two steps ahead to give in,"</span> Jaitley said.
"It is the defeat of the Prime Minister to put the entire process of disinvestment on hold simply because the DMK objected to disinvesting Neyveli Lignite Corporation beyond 10 per cent.<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'> The Government's policy on Nepal has been outsourced to the CPM. It is unprecedented that the Government's policy in sensitive strategic matters is being outsourced," </span>he said.
Expressing surprise over the state of affairs in the Government, Jaitley said: <b>"One wonders if the present Government is the Congress Government or Congress-led Third Front Government that sacrificed the policy against terrorism for the sake of vote bank politics and India's independent foreign policy after the Indo-US nuclear deal."</b>
<b>Asserting that the NDA Government under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee never faced such situations, Jaitley said: "Whenever the Government took any decisions, the party as well as the allies stood by him. In the case of UPA Government, hardly any decisions are being taken."</b>
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