BY VENKAT PARSA
New Delhi, July 22: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday mounted a scathing attack on Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani and openly came out against the Left parties for their joining hands with the BJP and asked them whether Mr Advani was acceptable to them as a prime ministerial candidate.
"Our friends in the Left Front should ponder over the company they are forced to keep because of miscalculations by their general secretary," Dr Singh said in an apparent reference to CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat.
As Dr Singh stood up to reply to the debate on the motion of confidence moved by him on Monday, the entire Opposition was on its feet, raising slogans demanding his resignation, forcing him to table his speech. Perhaps it was the only occasion when a Prime Minister was prevented from replying to the debate on trust motion.
"Our Left colleagues should tell us whether Mr L.K. Advani is acceptable to them as a prime ministerial candidate. Mr L.K. Advani should enlighten us if he will step aside as the prime ministerial candidate of the Opposition in favour of the choice of the UNPA. They should take the country into confidence on this important issue," he said.
In a blistering attack, Dr Manmohan Singh said, "Mr Advani has chosen to use all manner of abusive objectives to describe my performance. He has described me as the weakest Prime Minister, a nikamma Prime Minister, and of having devalued the office of Prime Minister. To fulfil his ambitions, he has made at least three attempts to topple our government. But on each occasion, his astrologers have misled him. This pattern, I am sure, will be repeated today. At his ripe old age, I do not expect Mr Advani to change his thinking. But for his sake and India’s sake, I urge him at least to change his astrologers so that he gets more accurate predictions of things to come."
Reacting to all the charges heaped by Mr Advani, he said before levelling charges, Mr Advani should introspect. "Can our nation forgive a home minister who slept when the terrorists were knocking at the doors of our Parliament? Can our nation forgive a person who single-handedly provided the inspiration for the destruction of the Babri Masjid with all the terrible consequences that followed?" Defending the nuclear deal, the Prime Minister said the nuclear agreement will end India’s nuclear isolation, nuclear apartheid and enable the country to take advantage of international trade in nuclear materials, technologies and equipment.
It will open up new opportunities for trade in dual use high technologies opening up new pathways to accelerate industrialisation of the country.
"The cooperation that the international community is now willing to extend to us for trade in nuclear materials, technologies and equipment for civilian use will be available to us without signing the NPT or the CTBT," he asserted.
