By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday labelled Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a “glorified caretaker” and said the synchronised verbal assault on their prime ministerial nominee L.K. Advani by Congress leaders was a reflection of the party’s desperation.
“The orchestrated and synchronised verbal assault on L.K. Advani’s leadership qualities and credentials by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on a single day is nothing but a clear reflection of the desperation and frustration that is now gripping the top leadership of the Congress party given the emerging ground realities in favour of the BJP and the NDA,” said BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The BJP, he said, condemned the negative approach and strategy being adopted by the Congress party.
“We are constrained to observe that Manmohan Singh is at best a glorified caretaker of the post of prime minister keeping it warm for some one else. The country of more than one billion people today does not need a stop-gap caretaker or retainer in the office of prime minister. It wants a leader who can lead from the front,” the BJP leader added.
“The Congress party must explain, is Rahul Gandhi the real candidate of prime minister and Manmohan Singh is being used as a mask so that Rahul Gandhi is not subjected to public scrutiny.”
The Congress had Monday launched a four pronged attack on Advani. Speaking at separate election rallies and press conferences, Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi targeted Advani, especially over the 1999 Kandahar hijacking. Sonia Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka, referring to the BJP’s “budhiya” barbs, spoke of Advani’s age.
Prasad demanded an explanation from Sonia Gandhi on her comment that people within the country were more dangerous than foreign terrorists.
He asked whether she was referring to the Indian Mujahideen, Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and other such anti-national forces or the BJP and other nationalist forces.
Sonia Gandhi’s comment in a rally in Jharkhand on Saturday had provoked Advani to ask her for an apology.