By IANS
New Delhi : The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is an example of what a coalition government should not be and it would not last till 2009, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani said Tuesday.
Speaking after releasing the Dr Mookerjee Smriti Nyas souvenir ‘Sankalp’ here, Advani said if coalition governments are here to stay for some time, then the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government (of which Advani was a part) was “the best example of how coalitions should run and the UPA is an example of what coalitions should not be”.
Advani said: “I can make only one prediction that this government will not last till 2009. After winning the Delhi corporation elections, I used to say we have to wait till the Delhi assembly elections for the next round of test of our popularity. But now I feel that the Lok Sabha polls may be held earlier than the Delhi assembly polls.”
Earlier, Nyas president and former BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu castigated the Congress party for acting as an impediment in the formation of the first BJP-led government in southern India in Karnataka.
He said: “In the 2004 elections, it was the Congress that was defeated in Karnataka and BJP emerged as the single largest party. But the Congress ruled with the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) support. Now when the JD-S has extended support to the BJP, they say this is horse-trading and an unholy alliance.”
He called for a second movement like the Jai Prakash Narain movement of early 1970s to oust the Congress government from New Delhi and the states. “I feel the need for such a movement now,” said Naidu.