« Back to article

Print this article

The PM is in office but NOT in power: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday took a dig at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for exhorting bureaucrats to take bold decisions, saying the comments come as a "surprise" as there is "policy paralysis" in the government and "indecisiveness has become its hallmark".

"While addressing civil servants today, the prime minister said they should take bold decisions. We were surprised at this statement as this is a government which has developed a policy paralysis and indecision has become its hallmark," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

He alleged that the political leadership at the helm of affairs of this government does not take decisions on vital issues, due to which India "is losing several opportunities".

"There is a deficiency of leadership. The prime minister is in office but not in power. When the whole government is paralysed, how can one expect the civil servants to take decisions? We are asking the prime minister to take decisions," Javadekar said.

Click on NEXT for more...

'Their own allies are not on board'

The opposition also referred to the views expressed by Prime Minister's Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu on the state of the economy.

"Basu has said indecision is crippling growth. He was asked to amend his statement after which he is saying that he was talking about the economic crisis expected in Europe in 2014. He was actually referring to the 2014 elections. Even Europe is not discussing a European crisis in 2014," Javadekar said.

He insisted that Basu's comments have "brought out the truth" and Union ministers like Kapil Sibal and Ambika Soni "are wrong when they accuse the opposition of not cooperating".

"Their own allies are not on board," Javadekar said.

Click on NEXT for more...

TOP photo features of the week

Click on MORE to see another set of PHOTO features...