Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani said here on Sunday that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was India’s worst prime minister.
Advani told reporters at the airport that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre had not been able to provide good governance.
Governance had been distributed between the prime minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. “Then, how can one expect good governance,” he asked.
On Karnataka politics, Advani agreed that the “misdeeds” of B S Yeddyurappa during his tenure as chief minister had tarnished the image of the BJP. But D V Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar had given a good account of themselves as chief ministers. Hence, the BJP would retain power in the State.
He said six states, including Karnataka, would face Assembly elections in the next one year. The winning spree of the BJP would start from Karnataka.
He downplayed differences in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over projecting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate. Advani said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal-United had raised objection to Modi becoming the prime minister.
However, this was not a big problem. “There is no misunderstanding among NDA partners. A solution will be found shortly,” he added.
Advani later left for Ranebennur in Haveri district to address an election rally.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu described Narendra Modi as the most popular leader in the country. Therefore, the party decided to project Modi as its prime ministerial candidate.
Naidu told journalists in Hubli that Modi was also the choice of a majority of the people. The party would take a decision on Nitish Kumar’s opposition to Modi’s candidature later.
Naidu was here to campaign for BJP candidates.
He said the budget session, which would begin after a month’s recess on Monday, would be stormy as the Congress was trying to protect the guilty in various scams, including the 2G spectrum and coal block allocation.
BJP president Rajnath Singh said the NDA would not split over its prime ministerial candidate.
Singh told reporters at Sambra airport in Belgaum that BJP’s poll plank would be development. Later, Singh left for Chikkodi to address an election rally.
