PM takes on Advani over plank of "strong and decisive" leader

Pehowa (Haryana), May 4 (PTI) Questioning L K
Advani's projection as a "strong and decisive" leader, India's
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday said while the country
had witnessed numerous terror attacks, the previous National
Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime, in which the BJP leader was
the Home Minister, kept "sleeping".

"Three wanted terrorists were released and sent to
Afghanistan during BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) led regime, of
which Advaniji was the Home Minister," the Prime Minister, who
has been facing BJP tirade of being a "weak" leader, said
addressing an election rally here, about 30 km from
Kurukshetra in India's northern state of Haryana.

"During this (NDA regim) period, terror attacks
occurred at India's Parliament, the Red Fort, the Raghunath
Temple (Jammu), the Akshardam temple and so was the J&K
Assembly attacked. Terrorists infiltrated into Kargil, but BJP
government kept sleeping," Singh said, adding "this is the
record of the BJP government. You decide how much decisive and
strong these leaders are."

Singh asserted that the Congress led UPA government
was fully capable of dealing with terrorism and added it was
an issue which needed coordination between various states. "We
also need to talk with other countries".

The Prime Minister expressed concern over the
developments in the neighbouring nations including Pakistan,
Nepal and Sri Lanka and said it could affect the security
situation in the country

"Today, there is lack of peace and stability in our
neighbouring nations, be it Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It
(the developments) can also affect security situation in our
country," he said, claiming that only Congress was capable of
dealing with such critical issues.

Vowing to take all necessary steps to combat terrorism,
the Prime Minister said his party will ensure that people from
any particular community are not targeted.

"We will continue to fight terror with hard work and
patience and whatever steps are needed to tackle the scourge,
we will take them. However, at the same time, we will also
keep in mind that in our fight against terror, people from any
particular religion or section are not
unnecessarily harassed," he said.

Singh said that the Congress was contesting elections
on the basis of its development record and claimed that it was
the only party that had the ability to understand the economic
issues.

"We successfully handled the economic crisis in 1991
and today also we have been able to maintain the strength of
our economy despite the global economies are facing worst
crisis," he said adding that other political parties do not
understand or do not want to understand the same.

Singh, who was on his first election visit to Haryana,
said that India never witnessed such a higher economic growth
in the history as it was achieved in UPA regime.

"But we also know that our work is still unfinished
as India is still facing several challenges posed by poverty,
malnutrition and lack of superior infrastructure. And we need
more time to face them," he said in his 30-minute speech.

Rejecting BJP's charge that the UPA was not bringing
the black money stashed away in banks abroad, Singh said that
the government had done whatever was necessary.

He claimed that there was no basis for the data related
to black money presented by BJP. "As far as my knowledge goes,
there is no organisation in the world that can estimate the
amount of black money," he said. PTI SUN
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