Sonia running the show: Naidu

Telugu Desam party president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday said the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, has undermined the nation by stating that he would vacate his seat, if AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi showed interest.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Naidu said Dr. Singh should not forget that it was democracy and he was expected to provide leadership and a sense of direction to the nation. He did not show any of these qualities in his second term. In fact the UPA government has no significant achievement to celebrate its completion of a year.

He said it was an unimpressive phase with the Prime Minister unable to assert himself and depending too much on the AICC president, Sonia Gandhi, as revealed by the opinion poll. It was not Dr. Singh but Ms. Gandhi who was running the government. He belied the expectations of people who thought an economist would do a better job than a politician.

Far from any achievement, the UPA government indulged in blackmailing the Opposition by misusing the CBI, he said. Its second term was full of scandals like that of IPL and corruption as symbolised by the 2G spectrum auctions. Yet there was no action against anyone. It miserably failed to check the price rise while resorting to hike in price of fuel indiscriminately during the last six years. On Prime Minister's comment that there are no proposal for any State, Mr. Naidu said it was for the Centre to clarify.

The functioning of the State governments too left much to be desired and the best example was the one headed by K. Rosaiah in Andhra Pradesh, he said. People were wondering if there was a Government at all. Farmers who were affected by floods and drought were left to fend for themselves. There was no remunerative price for paddy, subabul and tobacco.

Mahanadu

He said the Mahanadu was being held at Telugu Vijayam, as the place had a lot of sentimental attachment to several party leaders. It was there that they started their political career and many of them wanted to relive those memories.