By IANS
New Delhi : Rejecting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) charge of Manmohan Singh being a weak prime minister, the Congress Wednesday said it and other United Progressive Alliance (UPA) constituents “stand like a rock” behind him. The party said Manmohan Singh’s government would go down in history as “a mature and stable” administration.
While the BJP had called Manmohan Singh a “weak” prime minister, the Congress said former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former deputy prime minister L.K. Advani – both BJP leaders – were “disappointed and disillusioned leaders”.
Reacting to speculations that Manmohan Singh might step down, the party said: “Manmohan Singh is a successful, dynamic and respected prime minister and the nation will bear witness to that fact.”
Coming down heavily on BJP leader Arun Jaitley for attacking the prime minister, Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said: “The vicious and unwarranted attack upon the prime minister is evidence of diabolical machinations on the part of the BJP to somehow destabilise the office of the prime minister and achieve by underhand means what they have failed to achieve directly.
“They will not succeed in their nefarious designs.”
Natarajan said: “It is the BJP which is a sad and defeated party, and Vajpayee and Advani, the ‘Vikas Purush’ and ‘Loh Purush’, who are disappointed and disillusioned leaders.”
She also described Advani as ‘Low Purush’.
The Congress spokesperson reminded the BJP that Vajpayee had always used the threat to resign as his “best weapon” to win over Advani, with whom he allegedly ran a battle for supremacy.
Pointing out that Vajpayee had many times expressed his helplessness in handling the multi-party coalition government, Natarajan said: “So it was Vajpayee who was a sad and defeated prime minister and not Manmohan Singh, who has led the country with great distinction.
“It is BJP leaders Vajpayee and Advani and indeed the entire BJP which is sad and defeated – both when they were in government and even when they had been swept out of power. They have failed to learn their lessons,” she said.
“They continue with their internal wrangling and bankruptcy of ideology.”