Sonia-Advani war of words over Indian PM hots up

New Delhi, Apr 11 (PTI) The war of words over Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh escalated Saturday with leader
of main opposition BJP, L K Advani saying Singh has
voluntarily abdicated his authority and the Congress president
accusing him of speaking "rubbish".

"You have a situation in which the Prime Minister's
office is held by a person who holds office but no authority.
And the person who has the authority has no accountability
...this is no democracy," Advani told private television
channel CNN-IBN referring to Gandhi. He said this has
"seriously affected" affected the functioning of the
government.

Striking back, Gandhi in election meetings in Bihar
and Jharkhand said Advani does not have any issues. "So, he is
talking rubbish".

"I want to ask Advaniji what are his achievements ?
I want to ask during the six-year tenure in Delhi when he was
the Home Minister and the Deputy PM, what did he do for the
farmers? What did he do for the poor? He did not do anything",
she said.

Advani without elaborating said he was aware of some
cases "where the PM (Singh) has proposed some action but he is
not able to implement it unless he gets clearance from the
Congress president."

Advani said even Cabinet ministers are aware that
"merely Manmohan Singh saying something is not the last word.
Even the allies know...Soniaji kya kehti hain pata lagao (find
out what Gandhi has to say on the issue)."

The BJP leader said he described Singh as a weak Prime
Minister "in the context ...that I have seen prime ministers
earlier who had the support of only four MPs in house and yet
they were never at a disadvantage to take a decision...as I
said the PM should be the last word. The buck should stop
there."

Stepping up her offensive, Gandhi retorted is Advani
capable of fighting terror ? "He is not capable...you remember
that a dangerous terrorist, who was lodged in our prison, was
taken as a guest to Afghanistan and allowed to go scot free".

"There were terror attacks one after another during
the BJP-led NDA rule," she said recalling the attacks on the
Jammu and Kashmir assembly, Raghunath mandir and the
Akshardham temple. PTI NAB
PMR
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