Hitting out at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his remarks on the possibility of his third consecutive term at the helm, the BJP on Friday said the so called ‘reluctant politician’ has shown his ‘true political colours’ in signaling his ambition to have another term at the top. The BJP expressed confidence that people will not vote back to power the “scam tainted and corrupt” UPA.
leaving open the possibility of him being in the race for a third term, when asked if he would agree to lead a Government if Sonia Gandhi and the Congress select him for the top job, Singh had on Thursday on his way back from the BRICS summit said, “These are all hypothetical questions. We will cross the bridge when we reach there.”
The BJP also dismissed Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh ‘Third Front’ idea, saying such experiments neither have a present nor a future. Party spokesman Ravishankar Prasad also pointed out that third fronts have always survived on outside support from Congress.
On the PM’s remarks, Prasad said, “Obviously, Manmohan Singh, the reluctant politician, has shown his true colours a few days after Holi and has indicated that he is audaciously ambitious. The lacklustre, non-performing leadership of Manmohan Singh, involved in so many massive scams, some of which lead directly to his door steps, is not what the people of the country want or deserve and that too for a third term. India certainly deserves better and Indians are waiting for the opportunity to make it happen.”
Prasad also took potshots at Singh and the Congress on the issue of prime ministership. “Whether the comment of Manmohan Singh is more aimed at his foes in Congress or to put a question mark on Rahul Gandhi’s claim for the post of Prime Minister, for which a consistent chorus is going on within Congress, is entirely the internal matter of Congress,” Prasad said.
BJP maintained that the functioning of Singh as Prime Minister in the last nine years was “certainly a matter of public concern” and pointed out that several scams and “monumental corruption” have taken place with alarming regularity during his rule.
Referring to the spiralling current account deficit and overall economic mismanagement, Prasad said, “People may despair at the very idea of even remotely enduring Singh as Prime Minister for five more years.”