By IANS,
Guwahati : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Thursday once again termed Manmohan Singh a “weak and indecisive” prime minister who cannot take a single decision without the clearance of the Congress party high command.
“I am told that the prime minister was upset over me using harsh words against him. By saying that he is a weak prime minister I don’t think I used any harsh language. He is in fact a weak minister, an indecisive prime minister who has to take clearance for everything from 10 Janpath (the official residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi),” Advani said at a rally in Guwahati.
Advani was in Guwahati as part of his Jan Chetna Yatra. Earlier in the day he was in Arunachal Pradesh capital Itanagar where he addressed a public rally.
“Everywhere in the world, the prime minister’s word is the final word. And in the desk of some prime minister’s it is written the buck stops here. But in India, the buck does not stop at 7 Race Course (the prime minister’s official residence), the buck stops at 10 Janpath,” Advani said.
The BJP leader also criticised the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of failing to do anything to get back black money stashed at the Swiss Bank.
“The UPA government is allowing people to get away and withdraw the black money from their accounts in Swiss Bank,” Advani said.
“I am overwhelmed by the response of my yatra. The twin purpose of this yatra is to fight and create awareness about corruption and getting the black money back to India from Swiss banks.”
The BJP leader also touched on local issues in Assam saying the land swap deal between India and Bangladesh signed by the prime minister during his recent visit to Dhaka was undemocratic.
“How can a prime minister agree to give away land to another country without the approval of parliament? We are with the people of Assam and I want you to fight for your land and never allow it to be handed over to Bangladesh,” Advani said.
Advani had just two days ago said in Maharashtra that Chandra Shekhar, Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral had performed better than Manmohan Singh with the support of only a handful of members of parliament.
“These former PMs provided good governance, but Manmohan Singh will not do anything till he gets the signal from 10 Janpath,” he had said at a public meeting at Saoner.
Refusing to be drawn into constant verbal attacks, Manmohan Singh had told reporters on his way back from South Africa Wednesday: “I would hope that he (Advani) would use language, which at times appears to be intemperate. I think in politics, it is better to avoid harsh words.”