The BJP will not soften its stance on the Coal scam issue and will continue to seek the resignation of not only Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but also that of the government.
Senior party leader M Venkaiah Naidu said on Saturday that “the UPA Government has become a great burden to the country; it must go; it is not just the resignation of the Prime Minister, we want the entire government to go.”
Naidu told a news conference here, barely a day after the Prime Minister refused to resign while on his way back from Tehran, that the BJP demand for government’s resignation “is not just in response to the coal block scam but a culmination of major scams unheard of anywhere in the world.”
Amid a tsunami of scams rocking the government, from sugar scam, to “2G” licensing, “Adarsh Housing scam,” the “Aircel-Maxis deal” and aircraft purchase scam, Naidu said there has been enough indictment of the government by various public institutions like the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), Public Account’s Committee (of Parliament) and the judiciary.
Despite a number of discussions in Parliament, no action has been taken at the end of the day, while the government is seen “protecting the guilty”, which has made the Congress party increasingly unpopular with the people, Naidu said.
Reiterating that the BJP respects the need for Parliament to function without disruptions, Naidu said the party has to take the “painful step” of stalling the proceedings as a floor tactics.
“Parliamentary accountability is as important as Parliamentary debate,” he said, justifying the current impasse. “A debate (on the coal scam) without accountability is meaningless.”
The BJP is ready for a mid-term poll anytime, he replied to a query. “Let them first resign and go and let the elections be announced,” he added.
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