Manmohan Singh is in the PM's chair but not in power: BJP

Scoffing at the Congress' assertion that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party president Sonia Gandhi shared a unique relationship, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday said though Dr Singh was technically at the helm, the real power rested in the hands of Gandhi.

"Dr Manmohan Singh needs to be charged with power by Sonia Gandhi to establish his authority as the prime minister. Should the prime minister of a big country like India need to be charged from a battery to show his own authority? Manmohan Singh is in the chair but he is not in power," said BJP's Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Rubbishing the remark about "two power centres" by its general secretary Digvijaya Singh, Congress had on Tuesday said the relationship that has existed between Sonia Gandhi as party president and Manmohan Singh as prime minister is "unique and ideal".

Taking on Dr Singh for his statement -- that the country's economy was facing a downturn -- Prasad said the prime minister was merely providing lip-service and not taking any concrete steps to bring the economy back on track.

"Let me ask Dr Manmohan Singh, you are now in the ninth year of your prime ministership. After April, the 10th year of your PM-ship will start. Dr Manmohan Singh, you are an economist. You are only diagnosing the problem. What about the solution," he said.

"Let me ask a question today. Dr Manmohan Singh, will you walk the talk?  What you spoke today, these kind of statements you have been making for the last four years. That is the problem. ‘There is price rise, there is slow growth, there is corruption, I will look into it’. Looking into it has taken four years. The people of the country will start looking at them when the time for election comes," Prasad said.