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UPA is directionless and divisive: Jaitley

Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI: The former Union Law Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Arun Jaitley, on Tuesday accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of being “directionless and divisive” and of having “sacrificed larger interest for vote-bank politics.” It is an “indecisive” government that has a “do-nothing approach,” he said.

Participating in the resumed discussion on the motion of thanks to the President’s address, Mr. Jaitley said that while the UPA had given “kudos” to itself in the President’s address, it needed to be reminded of the “political reality” of having lost a series of elections in several States and not to live in an “illusion” that it would govern forever.

Cites Congress debacles

Reminding the Congress of the series of poll debacles in Bihar, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, he said it would be difficult for the Congress to remember when it last won an election.

Referring to Karnataka, he said the Congress was trying to use every “Constitutional reasoning” to avert an election in the State — where President’s rule ends on May 28 — just to postpone another electoral defeat.

‘Subverting institutions’

He accused the government of subverting institutions — the primary institution of Prime Minister had been “devalued,” tainted Ministers found place in the Union Council of Ministers, the Central Bureau of Investigation was being misused to target political opponents such as the former Chief Ministers of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and the office of Governors was being used to install minority Congress governments in power. Tension was sought to be created between the “sacrosanct” institutions of judiciary and the legislature.

“When it had happened in the 70’s, the Left parties were with us. But now the Left have adopted a strange course. They want to influence the government from within and occupy opposition space outside. Time will tell how they will suffer,” he said.

Package for farmers

Turning to the farmers’ debt relief package, Mr. Jaitley said: “Everybody, even members of the treasury benches, are questioning from where the Rs. 60,000 crore will come if there is no budgetary provision for it. The government did nothing for four years and, in its fifth year, resorts to desperate economics before elections. If it can be done without budgetary support, we will hail Mr. Chidambaram as the greatest magician.”

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