By IANS,
New Delhi : The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is on its last legs due to growing differences with its Left allies over the India-US nuclear deal, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani said Monday.
“The UPA government is in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) today. It is like a patient in ICU. People are asking whether it is going to survive and for how long,” Advani said. He was speaking at a function organised to release a compilation of presidential speeches by Jan Sangh leaders.
“The alliance between the Left and the Congress-led UPA is an opportunistic (one). These two parties (Communists and Congress) differ on economic and foreign policy. How can they work together?
Clarifying the BJP stand on the nuclear issue, Advani said: “In 1964, we took the pledge of making India a nuclear power. And we did not say it was only for energy.”
Advani said that the decision was taken after seeing the condition of Indian soldiers who faced a crushing defeat in 1962 at the hands of China.
“I had visited Ladakh as a journalist in December 1962 and seen that Indian soldiers did not even have proper woollen clothes,” he said.